Regulating sales

[Luke Bennett]

I'm not sure whether ICANN have any terms and conditions in relation to this, but it just struck me that another way to minimise domain squatting and hoarding would be to disallow the sale of .app domains altogether - any domains no longer required can only be returned to the registry and would then become available again for repurchase at the standard price after a set period of time (allowing for repurchase by the seller if required). Domain transfers could be permitted but only at cost price. This is effectively what happens with Twitter accounts - you can take ownership of somebody else's name by mutual agreement, but they're not allowed to sell it to you.

This would keep the focus on community rather than profit and discourage people from snapping up premium names in the hopes of making a quick buck later on. This is a model that doesn't fit well with other registries because the focus there is all about monetising and promoting domains as "investments". It's therefore an opportunity for .app to stand out from the crowd and another way to highlight its community culture.

The challenge here might be in how this practice would be policed. What's to stop somebody transferring a domain under the rules whilst taking a backhander? Well perhaps you couldn't stop it altogether, but you could certainly act on any domains found listed for sale on the usual domain auction sites etc or showing as for sale on their parked page. This would make it a lot harder for a potential seller to find a buyer.

Another challenge is ensuring the registry doesn't appear too controlling and heavy-handed and risk scaring off potential developers who don't feel they can base their business on a domain they don't have 100% control of.

Of course, it may be that we do actually want domains to be seen as valuable assets. For example, it may be necessary to sell off premium domains in order to fund the whole venture. But it's certainly a point for discussion.

Luke
http://lukebennett.com
Twitter: @developerluke

[Matthew Baxter-Reynolds]

You've managed to eloquently summarise a number of my thoughts on the issue.

To me, this is the difference between the market for private number plates in the UK and the lack of market for vanity plates in the US. Because a market exists in the UK, demand can push up prices to a point where number plates become an asset in their own right. The fact that selling vanity plates in the US is not possible means you can get any name you want for (I remember it being at the time) a couple of hundred dollars.

Domain names should be something that supports the operation of a business, where the value is in the business not what domain the company happened to be lucky enough to get.

--------------------------------------------
Matthew Baxter-Reynolds
Director, AMX Software Ltd
Author of Cracking Native Cross-platform Mobile Apps Without the Kludge (http://www.multimobiledevelopment.com/)

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[Tass Skoudros]

Totally agree. The challenges are to develop such a system so that it
remains transparent and fair, we want fairness to a degree that
maintains transparency. Last thing we want is for 80% of domain
purchases to be tied in bureaucracy, and arguments.

I believe balance comes from targeting the right market. If we dreamed
a dream, in our dream we want every app to have a .APP, it could be a
Android app a IOS app a webOS app a blackberry app a web app. Any
valid application for a domain can and should be validated by the
ownership of the application. That to me is fair and transparent, we
should not worry ourselves with the resale market as long as this
validation process exists we will make it difficult for most
squatters.

People will always find away to get around any bureaucracy, once we
have approved someone as being the owner of an application, the sale
is complete. If he sells the domain + app for profit that's his
business.

To register a .app you should own the application, before you are
approved for a .APP you need to submit proof and we need to validate
it. Most of this can be automated with a workflow of some sort. If we
want to win we need to show the right motivations that do justice for
the domain, altruism aside if ICANN believed we had good intentions we
will win.

I am a programmer, and business owner, I love apps, I use apps and I
own apps.






On Jul 14, 8:51 am, Matthew Baxter-Reynolds <m...@amxmobile.com>
wrote:

> m...@amxmobile.com