The effect of new gTLDs on .at domains

.at domain names are the top-level country domains for Austria, Europe. Unlike lots of European domains they are open for all to register and you don't need and address in Austria or any company, neither a European address. So, a .at domain is available for anyone. For an Austrian individual or company they are clearly the best current domain and should be part of an companies domain portfolio serious about protecting their name, but the domain landscape is changing... Over the past few months alot has happened in the world of top level domains. On 13 July 2012 ICANN published a list of all of the applications for new extensions – 1,930 in total. Not including brand names and TLDs in non-Latin character sets (countries with other alphabets basically), there are still around one thousand new domain extensions which will start to be released in 2013. Our internet is set to change. It will be a great opportunity for some and a mystery and confusing to others. A change of this proportion brings many questions: What effects will these new developments have on the domain business? Which top level domains will be most popular? Concerning .at, how are Austrian companies going to respond? As well as updating users on changes to .at domain name, we will be exploring these themes in the coming months. A report in Austria has shown that 60% of companies have a clear understanding of the new gTLDs and 40% say they have a domain strategy in place. However, many of the registrars were not clear on what would be implemented and that the strategy of many was to stick with what they know and that is .at. Around 1.2 million .at domains have been registered so there are still many domain names available, especially for keyword related terms with domains. This is in stark contrast to .com where it is very saturated and the driving force behind a whole raft of new domain endings. Also, what works in English (like .web or .shop) may not be as clear for marketing or users in non-English language countries like Austria. Need advice on your domain strategy, just contact frank domains