[TechNewsReview comment] The global online population will increase from 1.1 billion users in 2006 to 1.5 billion in 2011, according to recently released research from JupiterResearch. And what does this mean for domain names I hear you ask? Plenty – it can only mean demand for domain names will skyrocket as well.With a rapid expansion of internet access in western countries such as US, Canada, Japan, and Western Europe, this has led to a largely mature online population.Rapid growth is expected to occur in developing countries, and huge growth, in both per capita online use and number of people online, especially in China and India. So China and India are likely to show a huge demand for domain names.I addressed these issues in my paper at Domain Pulse 2007. In my paper I made reference to their being one billion people online now, and five billion to go. In also made particular reference to Spanish-language internet users. These have grown around 230 per cent from 2000 to 2006, while the number English-language users grew by 135 per cent over the same period.With the growth in Spanish speakers online (Spain, United States, Latin America) there will be a large growth in ccTLDs for all of these Spanish-language countries, as well as the .com TLD due to its global nature and the large Spanish-language market in the United States.In the Spanish-language domain name market, this has led rapidly increasing prices for domain names. For example, in 2004 juegos.com (games.com) sold for $1 million and was re-sold to a gambling company in 2006 for an estimated price 10 to 15 times the 2004 price.Besides .cn and .in, I would predict growth in the .br, .id and .pl ccTLDs, among many others in the developing world.Note: the above statistics on the Spanish-language market are from the Internet and the Spanish Revolution: An Update on the Spanish Domain Market available from http://sedo.com/links/showhtml.php3?Id=1341For a link to the JupiterResearch news release or news coverage of it, see http://technewsreview.com.au/article.php?article=2390To see my presentation at Domain Pulse 2007 titled Wie man mit Domain-Namen Geld verdienen kann (How to make money from domain names), see the Domain Pulse website programme here or to go directly to the presentation click here.
What global online population growth means for domain names
[TechNewsReview comment] The global online population will increase from 1.1 billion users in 2006 to 1.5 billion in 2011, according to recently released research from JupiterResearch. And what does this mean for domain names I hear you ask? Plenty – it can only mean demand for domain names will skyrocket as well.