From Google's application for the .blog TLD (application #527):
> The purpose of the proposed gTLD, .blog, is to provide a dedicated Internet space where Google can continue to innovate on its Blogger offerings. The mission of the proposed gTLD is to provide a dedicated domain space in which users can publish blogs. All registered domains in the .blog gTLD will automatically be delegated to Google DNS servers, which will in turn provide authoritative DNS responses pointing to the Google Blogger service.
In addition to being uninformed about the basic facts here, I think you are overestimating the market for $7 - $50/yr blog hosting and underestimating the brand value of an exclusive Blogger TLD.
Comments
Do you think so? I think they would make far more money by selling subdomains.
From Google's application for the .blog TLD (application #527):
> The purpose of the proposed gTLD, .blog, is to provide a dedicated Internet space where Google can continue to innovate on its Blogger offerings. The mission of the proposed gTLD is to provide a dedicated domain space in which users can publish blogs. All registered domains in the .blog gTLD will automatically be delegated to Google DNS servers, which will in turn provide authoritative DNS responses pointing to the Google Blogger service.
So, yes -- it's just for Blogger.
In addition to being uninformed about the basic facts here, I think you are overestimating the market for $7 - $50/yr blog hosting and underestimating the brand value of an exclusive Blogger TLD.
I didn't mean hosting, I just mean selling the subdomain. Like Verisign sells *.com subdomains.
How much does Google care about $18 million?
(That's assuming they sell millions of domains at a decent price per. They currently make that revenue in a few hours.)
Yeah, that's what worries me. The strategic value of controlling some TLDs will be higher than the value of renting them out.