Google to sell domain names

I found this article at http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article.php/3649306

Google is partnering with GoDaddy.com and eNom to add domain registration services to its Google Apps for Your Domain product.

GoDaddy President and COO Warren Adelman told internetnews.com he had to take the fifth on whether Google will make a cameo appearance in any Super Bowl commercials this year.

In the meantime, Google said in a statement that it plans to charge customers $10 per domain, per year. It's a price that includes private registration to protect personal information.

Ten dollars per year is about four dollars less than what GoDaddy.com currently charges for private registration, but Adelman said he isn't worried the deal will undercut his company's business.

"We see this growing the overall market awareness and market importance of the domain name," Adelman said.

Google said it supports .com, .org, .net, .biz and .info. and that it expects to support more over time.

When users register their domain, Google will automatically configure it with the services available through Google Apps for Your Domain.

As internetnews.com previously reported, Google Apps for Your Domain includes tools for communicating and collaborating in the enterprise, such as Gmail Web e-mail, instant messaging, voice calling and collaborative calendaring.

In November, Google added a new start page based on Google's Custom Home Page to the Apps product. The service also includes Web page design, publishing and hosting via Google Page Creator.

The standard Google Apps for Your Domain package also includes 2 gigabytes of e-mail storage for each user, customization tools and help for administrators via e-mail or an online help center.

Most of the applications included in Google Apps for Your Domain sport a Google search bar, but Google has not announced plans to split advertising revenues with domain owners.

Google became an accredited registrar with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in 2005, paying a $2,500 initial application fee and $7,000 accreditation fee to access the database of .com, .net., .org, .pro, .info, .name and .biz extensions.

 

Wow! Google is really gonna take over the entire net now... I'm not sure if that's good though. Monopoly is never good.

 

Yup, they sell them in partnership with Godaddy and Enom, with $10 a piece, at the moment:

 

$10 is above the current market price. I wonder how they plan to grow?

 

I don't seem to agree with this plan, it is costlier than other domain providers. So definitely it does not interest me at least for now unless it has some special advantages

 

Well as far as privacy protection is included in the plan.. I have no reason to say no. I don't hope that they will accept paypal though. Perhaps G's checkout.. but not paypal.

 

quite a good deal with just 10$ to keep my registration name secret.
Thanks for sharing.

 

It's an interesting move, but until they accept paypal (which will be never) or lower the price I'll go elsewhere.

Skinny

 

I think this is a great idea on Googles part. Its also isnt a bad price for private domain ect.

 

The price for private registration is actually less than the usual price in Go Daddy. But I'm still not excited by the tought of google taking over the entire net.

 

I think the next step will be Google Supermarkets. You can buy the following items there:

Google Milk
Google Bread
Google Bananas
Google Steak
Google Baked beans
Google Coffee
Google Toilet Paper
Google Tampons
Google Lingerie
Google Hemorrhoid Cream
Google Toothpaste

The list goes on. In a million years people will be travelling across the universe. People from other planets will ask the travellers "where do you come from?" and the travellers will reply "Well, we come from a lovely little planet called Google and I am from the country called Googleaska and I live in Googlsville."

 

pretty expensive though

 

The question is why would Google need to partner with GoDaddy? They can write the software used by GoDaddy over 2 weeks with a team of 10 programmers. Nothing tricky there.

I guess Google does not want to deal with actual customer care issues and the like. They are focusing on their marketing powers. It will not be pleasant for competition.
Currently the top 3 free spots for "domain registration" are taken by:
Register.com
Networksolutions
GoDaddy

GoDaddy has the top spot on AdWords followed by Register followed by DomainsPricedRight.com

It is interesting to see how the rankings would look in a month or two once Google actually starts selling the service. I bet domains.google.com would take first spots on paid and free search results. The only question is how long would it take?

 

Or google just wants to have everything. And I won't be surprised if domains.google.com will reach the first page in one month.

 

I think its a good deal if private domain registration is included in 10 $!

Also, don't forget that Yahoo! (the biggest rival of Google), is also in the Domain registration business. So, its interesting to see the outcome of this.

 

Seems too expensive - domain at godaddy is $2 + $7 private registration

 

Well I dont think the main idea of google in becoming a domain provider is to sell domains thought its a side idea. I think the main idea is to improve their search algorithms by accessing all the data about the domain ownership.

 

10$ is a bit expensive, but i think many people will buy from them to see the Google tag attached

 

Don't worry lot's of people will buy from them ...

 

its a little expensive....before I register I have to see if the added services are worth the extra bucks