In a few hours, the floodgates will open on the next big thing: the rush to create a domain name in Chinese. The start of unrestricted worldwide sales of .在线 (“.online”) and .中文网 (.chinese language web) on April 28 follows a 30 day period in which all sorts of industries created domain names in 汉语 (or, Chinese characters).
@NewDomainsSedo writes in yesterday’s edition of Venture Beat news that:
The opportunity for domain investors (particularly those that missed out on the dot com era of buying domains for a few dollars and flipping them for hundreds or even thousands) is clear. For U.S. companies, however, especially the roughly 1,500 doing business in China and others looking to do business overseas, this trend is of vital importance. The value that investors have placed on the Dot Chinese Online and Dot Chinese (Language Web), combined with the endorsement of the Chinese central government, confirms that these IDNs are primed to be successful. It signifies a huge shift in the way the Asian market will navigate the Internet moving forward. Companies that want to garner attention in Asia need to think beyond their brand.com – and even beyond their company name in Chinese characters at a .cn address – and consider adding their Chinese character equivalent domain name under the new IDNs to their portfolio.
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Above: A shot of a model of the Summer Palace in Beijing and contributions.