For me there are a couple fatal flaws with this extension.
1) 99.1% of the world has no idea what "FYI" means
2) the renew prices start at $17 a year
I did not buy any. Good luck all
You make some great points and I debated (but I am no master) those questions with myself a while ago.
I have come to a conclusion and I will lay it out for you to see, maybe if you see things my way or maybe there is something that I am failing to include.
I have found that the United States accounts for about 5% of the world population, we account for about 11-12% of the internet users, and own the majority of domain names.
I want to give the exact numbers but I cannot find all of my charts that had these.
Anyway, the US accounts for a number of domain names greater then 100 million and was the majority domain owning country, followed by Germany, UK, France, Netherlands, Canada, and Russia.
The US and Europe accounted for 78% of all domains names (as found by Oxford internet study).
(going off of memory) I think the US owned somewhere around 35-40% of all domain names (thus making up the vast majority of domain name percentage.
So when I mulled this idea over some time ago (prior to the recent emergence of nTLDs that we are discussing here) I was thinking in terms of how extensions (in this case .CO and .INFO) would relate across the board.
Both extensions have fairly strong English connotations associated with them (company and information). I wound up going with .CO in which I made a fair chunk of change... but that is a different story.
I came to the conclusion that it really does not matter what the extension is but rather what the left of the dot is. I have come to this conclusion because I have seen the sales numbers of many domains in both extensions and the stronger the "KEYWORD" the better the sales price.
(Makes sense... right!)
Since then (and now with the nTLDs), I have been watching to see if it matters if the KEYWORD is RELATIVE to the extension. I am on the fence in this thought process because I can see added value in a domain name that incorporates the extension (example: car.club) but I can not see how it would hurt a domain name if it is not so clear of a tie in.
*CAVEAT* unless the extension has a strong meaning that would directly conflict with the keyword or otherwise have adverse connotations when paired with a given string of word(s)/keyword(s)
This brings me full circle on my thought process:
I put more emphasis in keywords then the extension but it is ever present that it must make some semblance of sense.
When I find an extension like FYI or WORK that offers premium keywords at reg fee (or damn close to it), I try to take advantage of those names.
I am less concerned with other countries making sense of the extension or knowing the "meaning" behind an extension for a couple of reasons.
1) Unless they are English speaking (native or as a second language), I have to assume that all of the names are foreign to other countries. (example: Net, 网, чистый, δίχτυ.... these are just words I grabbed off of google translate so I have no idea their accuracy), English, Chinese, Russian, Greek translation of net.
I assume that words like PRO, GURU, ONLINE, XYZ, CLUB, TOP... do or don't translate in the same manner.
They are just accepted as is like .com and .net.
2) *Assuming* that the charts are correct, the US (with other English native language countries) lead the way in domain name ownership... less worried in this regard.
$20 for the renewal is a bit much but it is acceptable when you look at nTLDs as a whole.
.Global $80
.Club $12
.Work $9
.Coffee $30
.Xyz $13
.Ninja $20
.Click $8
.Top $14
.One $10
Its not the cheapest *BUT* it does allow you to grab premium keywords, many at reg. fee.
I grabbed one name "MOVIE.FYI" at reg. fee.
How often can you say that you can pick up the keyword "MOVIE" at reg. fee in any extension.
If it is not sold or held by the registry, then it is either for sale at a premium price OR is an some obscure extension that does not fit within the caveat listed above.
Just my thoughts. Right, wrong, or other... they are mine and you cant have them.
Well... if you are paying enough... I can sell them!
I hope that makes sense. Want to see what you think
Cheers