Juan Calle,CEO of Dot Co responds to Overstock announcement

Overstock announced recently that it is changing back to Overstocl.com . Overstock decided that changing its name to O.CO was not a good move and switched back to Overstock.com . Overstock decided to rebrand itself six months ago when it acquired O.CO domain name.However,Overstock has done one thing by doing that : confusing their customers .

After the company made the announcement ,Juan Calle,the CEO of the registry responded to Overstock through a blog post,entitled “A blip on the radar” .

You can read the blog post after the jump :

“Some in the domain industry (read: domainers) are up in arms about the recent announcement by Overstock.com that it would slow down its rebranding to O.co. Given the amount of speculation and commenting going on about this within that community, I felt it was appropriate to reach out to Overstock.com and get a clear picture of what is going. Here you go:

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Why did Overstock.com first begin using O.co?
When Overstock.com started twelve years ago we only sold surplus inventory. However, as our business model has evolved, Overstock.com is no longer just an online liquidator. Because “overstock” implies surplus or liquidation inventory, it no longer accurately reflected who we are today as a company.

Our offerings now span from cars to insurance, and include first-run brand name apparel, electronics and home décor. We wanted an identity that more accurately reflects how the company has evolved; hence we embraced O.co to reflect the direction in which we are heading.

Why are you shifting your brand emphasis back to Overstock.com? When does this shift become effective on the website and social media channels?
We have been listening to our customers and have learned that they we’ve moved too quickly in the transition. They are telling us that we’ve done it too fast. So we are going to down shift one gear by re-emphasizing Overstock.com and noting that O.co continues to be a shortcut to our site. Internationally, we will keep using O.co exclusively. O.co will still be promoted through our mobile website and our iPad application. The shift in emphasis began showing up on the website and our social media channels in early November.

What had the initial reaction been like from your customers?
Re-branding takes time and we certainly didn’t expect the new name to be adopted overnight. We were pleased with the early customer acceptance of O.co as a shortcut for Overstock.com and thus moved the rebranding efforts to the next gear. Many customers reacted positively, and others expressed that the transition was happening too quickly. What we learned was that we haven’t yet adequately transferred the decade of brand equity we have in Overstock.com. So, we’re down-shifting the re-branding effort in order to leverage and transfer that brand equity.

The .CO domain is fairly new and Overstock was taking a big risk as the only company to use the domain as part of its brand. Thoughts?
It is true that Overstock.com was the first online company to use the .CO as part of its brand. This put Overstock.com at the forefront of digital marketing. The decision to use a .CO domain in such a big way underscored our willingness to lead the market and to disrupt the status quo.

So when will you become O.co? Is that still on the cards?
We expect that O.co will continue to emerge as our brand over time. It will be a gradual transition, and may take a few years. We didn’t want to risk throwing out the brand equity we’ve built with Overstock.com. Ideally, in time you’ll just see Overstock.com fade away and O.co take its place.

What about O.CO Coliseum, will that be re-named as well? Wasn’t it Overstock.com Coliseum to begin with?
We won’t be changing the name. The name will remain “O.co Coliseum”.

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There you have it folks. A blip on the radar. As I’ve mentioned in the past, .CO is part of a marathon, not a sprint.

But if you’re a .CO fan and interested in something actually worthy of news, Om Malik, founder of GigaOm just rebranded to .CO. In case you don’t know who Om Malik is, well, he has 1.2 million Twitter followers. To top that off, Kloud.CO was featured on CNN, Quarterly.CO is blowing up in social media, and Founder Institute, the worlds largest pre-seed incubator is now living at FI.CO. Not too shabby!”

Moniker Year-End Auction ends in two days

Moniker is hosting a month long domain name auction.Moniker Premium Year-End auction is now live on Snapnames and will end in two days,on November 17,2011 at 3:15 pm ET .

The auction features 50 domain names .Four of the domain names have reserve ranges of $1 million to $5 million : CE.com ,CreditReports.com,Floor.com and Prime.com .

Only eight domain names received bids so far :

paternitytest.com $10,150
fyny.com $325
omib.com $325
apw.com $11,000
f.biz $10,001
mock.com $10,000
mentality.com $5,251
yogurtshops.com $300

Other interesting domain names include :

Tofu.com
FinancialManagement.com
CheapLaptops.com
GolfGloves.com
Herbapills.com
Motorcycles.net
PaternityTest.com
TeaClub.com
RealityShows.tv
Pranks.tv
FlipHomes.com

You can see the entire inventory here .

Afilias launched new educational materials to held people better understand ICANN’s New gTLD Progam

Afilias announced recently that it has launched the second phase of its educational materials to help people better understand ICANN’s New gTLD Program,which will open on January 12,2012 .

You can read the press release after the jump :

“New educational materials from Afilias are designed to inform and stimulate the imaginations of potential dot Brand, dot City and dot Niche applicants

Afilias Limited, a global provider of technical registry services for Internet domains, today announced that it has launched the second phase of its education campaign to help companies, organizations and cities better understand the pros and cons of the ICANN New gTLD Program, which opens January 12, 2012.

Following the initial launch of Afilias’ education campaign in June 2011, this phase focuses on helping interested parties make the decision as to whether pursuing a generic top-level domain (gTLD) is a wise business investment.

“It’s important that anyone who is considering a dot Brand, dot City or dot Niche domain look at the issue from multiple perspectives,” said Afilias CMO Roland LaPlante. “A recent poll from a Columbia Business School webinar — ‘Who Should Invest in a dot Brand? Evaluating the Business Case for a Top-Level Domain Name’ — found that 61% of the participants were equally interested in a dot Brand TLD for both defending their trademarks and for brand building and innovating. That’s why Afilias is offering a wealth of new educational materials: to help potential applicants understand the possibilities for innovation with new gTLDs as well as insights on owning and running a new gTLD.”

“With the ICANN new gTLD application window opening in less than 60 days and then closing only three months later, learning as much as possible, as quickly as possible, is paramount. And given that ICANN has not announced if there will be a second round of applications, ‘go or no go’ decisions need to be made quickly and wisely,” added LaPlante.

Among the educational resources Afilias is making available, free of charge, to potential new gTLD applicants are:

A series of video highlights, as well as the complete replay, from the recent Columbia Business School’s Center on Global Brand Leadership webinar: “Who Should Invest in a dot Brand? Evaluating the Business Case for a Top-Level Domain Name.”

A new idea-generating e-book on innovative uses of new gTLDs, which resulted from the recent “Afilias Global Innovation Contest for New TLD Ideas.”

A new e-book and video on dot City domains for city-based tourist commissions, local governments and chambers of commerce.

A new video on dot Niche domains for organizers and representatives of unique niche areas of interest”

Virtual Universe Corporation sells VU.COM for $700,000

Virtual Universe Corporation announced that it has sold the VU.COM domain name and the website for $700,000 to Mortgage Research Center LLC on November 9,2011 .

You can read the press release after the jump :

“Virtual Universe Corporation (the “Company”) (TSXV-VU), announced today that it has agreed to sell its entire right, title and interest in the domain name VU.COM, together with any unregistered trade-mark rights resulting from the Company’s use of such domain name (the “Domain Name”) to Mortgage Research Center LLC for $700,000 USD (the “Sale”).

The Company will retain all right, title, and interest in and to the materials on the website located at the Domain Name as of the effective date of the Sale (the “Website”) including all copyrights to webpages designed for the Website, page layouts for the Website, all graphics used at the Website, all databases generated for the Website, and all banner advertisements for the Website. The Company will move its existing web presence to a new domain, VUCORP.CA.

Pursuant to the terms of the Domain Name Purchase Agreement dated November 9, 2011, the Company may still create other websites for its use similar to the Website as the Sale pertains only to the Domain Name.

The Company has two principal areas of interest. It owns and maintains an indefeasible right of use in two dark strands of optical fibers in Alberta, Canada and is exploring options for future revenues from the asset. In addition, the Company has proprietary technology called Virtual Talker, which allows multiple participants to engage in real-time verbal conversations over the internet. The Company has suspended development and marketing of the Virtual Talker product line due to lack of financial resources. ”

Non-Residents Now Permitted To Register .РФ Domains Among T&C Changes

As of 11 November, people living outside Russia are permitted to register .РФ (.RF) domain names according to new terms and conditions published by the registry.