The long overdue launch of .au second level domains has been a success to date with over 700,000 registered as of the end of November 2022. And even retired Australian cricketers are getting in on the act. Listening to the ABC Radio cricket commentary today during coverage of the Australia v South Africa test match, former Australian players Shane Watson and Glenn McGrath were discussing Watson’s self-published book Winning the Inner Battle where Watson made reference to it only being available from shanewatson.au. Watson also has the .com.au domain, but it redirects to the .au.
As a veteran of three Names Policy Panels where I supported the introduction of second level .au registrations, it was pleasing in 2015 when the Panel recommended their introduction. Only seven years later, the launch finally happened. By now I was wondering if the popularity of social media would limit their interest. Social media has grown much larger in the intervening years and the ability of individuals to put up their thoughts without the need for a website had me wondering if a large part of the reason for my supporting them – the ability of individuals to register desirable .au domain names – had meant it was too late. It is likely many, if not the large majority, of registrations are brands registering the equivalents.
In the last couple of months as registrations have stabilised, the number of .au domain names has grown from 551,688 at the end of September 2022 to 706,319 in November, an increase of 154,631, while .com.au registrations increased from 3,113,986 at the end of September to 3,119,017 two months later, an increase of 5,031, according to auDA’s registry reports. Early days, but promising.
Watson’s book, available in paperback, e-book and audio formats claims to “give you all of the information that you will ever need to deeply understand how to bring the best version of yourself every time your best performance is needed.”
The now retired all-rounder won two World Cups, two Indian Premier League titles, two IPL most valuable player awards, two Allan Border Medals, one Pakistan Super League title and one PSL MVP as well as an Ashes Series Win. He played 59 tests for Australia, 190 one day internationals and 58 T20 internationals.