Personal domain names

Personal domain names
Issued by newscom.

LOS ANGELES, June 5 /PRNewswire/ -- What's the price of a good name?
We'll soon find out. A new commodity is coming to market: the Personal Domain
Name (PDN), the name we'll use to secure our identity on the Internet.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010601/PDOMLOGO )
Robert Wiles, founder and CEO of Pdom, launched today as the world's
largest Internet site dedicated to the registration and trading of personal
domain names, says while Internet domain registration is modestly
accelerating, PDN registration is growing exponentially.
"The PDN has become a tradable commodity. There were 27 million domain
names registered at the end of last year, and only 1% were PDNs," Wiles says.
"PDN registration is growing by 400% per year. In three years' time,
commentators estimate 36% of 140 million Internet domains will be PDNs.
"By the end of 2003, 50 million people will have registered a Personal
Domain Name. This exponential growth exceeds the growth of email."
Wiles believes trading in PDNs will supplant recent speculation in
commercial domain names and will become a billion dollar market within three
years.
"There will always be a secondary market for PDNs because most names are
shared by thousands if not millions of people. For example, globally there
are 6,000 names that are each shared by more than 100,000 people. In China 89
million people share the surname Zhang. Because of this commonality it is
almost impossible for anyone in the world to register their first name or last
name as a .com, .net or .org.
Wiles says the secondary market in commercial domain names is flawed. The
fundamental difference between the emerging personal domain market and
commercial domains is the nature of the underlying demand. A valuable PDN is
shared by thousands of people who have no desire to change their name. This
is the opposite of companies who can create new brands and have a legal right
to secure ownership of a domain name.
"Even for uncommon names, there will be a market," Wiles says. "A market
just requires a willing buyer, a willing seller and a secure place to trade.
We provide access to a global market and a new trading platform to buy and
sell PDNs. For our customers we offer a simple and fast negotiated sales
procedure with the security of an escrow service.
"The market for PDNs is still in its infancy and it's too soon yet to
offer precise comment on pricing trends. Who knows what your name is worth?
Chances are it will be worth a lot more over time. Net names could contribute
to net worth."

About Pdom: Launched 5 June 2001, Pdom is the world's first Internet
company to focus on everything to do with personal domain names and personal
websites.

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