Here is a shocker for you, Latin American Telecom LLC (LTC) has beaten Google to the new gTLD .Tube
Donuts was the other applicant for the new domain extension .Tube, has now also withdrawn its application.
LTC is represented by Esqwire.com and is run by Rami Schwartz which also owns and operates Mexico.com.
It’s pretty shocking (at least to me) that Google would have let .Tube go to another party who will immediately be a competitor to Google’s YouTube.com and Google’s new gTLD .YouTube.
We have previously questioned whether Google has lost a lot of interest in the whole new gTLD program, and with the exception of .App, Google has lost all new gTLD contention sets since we wrote that post back a month ago.
Last week its was reported that Google said it would not “compete aggressively” with Godaddy on the registrar front.
There is a new gTLD for .video which is owned by Rightside which is in Sunrise.
.Webcam is a new gTLD owned by Famous Four which has already launched.
There will also be a .Cam but its still in contention.
The ccTLD .TV which has become ranked by Google as a gTLD, would seem to be the other extension most at risk by .Tube.
.Tube was scheduled to go to an ICANN Last Resort Auction later this month
Here is what LTC had to say about its plans for .Tube according to its ICANN application.
“The purpose of the .TUBE gTLD is to:
• Provide all those interested, world-wide, in disseminating or seeking information, whether non-commercial or commercial, about current issues, news, culture, lifestyle, entertainment, sports or any other topic with a convenient and recognizable domain name that associates them and⁄or their information with particular topics presented primarily through a video format.• Provide all those interested, world-wide, in selling or purchasing goods or services of any kind, or providing information, with a convenient and recognizable domain name that associates them and⁄or their goods or services with particular topics or products of interest presented primarily through a video format.• Provide a top-level domain name that provides an identifiable means of communicating with people, organizations, businesses, and likeminded individuals that associate or affiliate with particular topics of interest through an video and electronic format.• Provide the world-wide Internet-using public with an additional choice of available descriptive domain names at competitive prices.
We have witnessed how the sharing of texts and pictures in real time has changed the world by altering and improving the flow of information.
We see the potential for .TUBE to participate by offering a gTLD that is highly intuitive and indicative of the sharing of content in video and visual formats so events around the world can not only be written and portrayed, but also captured and viewed as they happen.
.TUBE can play a significant role in providing individuals, communities, businesses and organizations with a dedicated domain name and platform to disseminate and receive visual and textual content and information.
At present, no specific .TUBE domain name, or useful top-level alternative domain name, exists for the people, organizations and businesses that seek to associate themselves or identify with a topics of interest and online communities through electronic and video format, or people, organizations and business that want to communicate with them.
Those wanting a domain name that indicates some level of association with or recognition of video contents could seek a second level domain name such as “***contentsinvideoformat.com,” or “***tube.com” or “***video.net,” but such domain (or similar names) are not readily available under the limited number of existing gTLDs, and more importantly only provide a secondary (at best) or weak (at worst) relationship between the domain name and contents in video format, which we believe is the primary goal of the registrant of particular topical video format -related names.
From a competitive perspective, registrants that want a domain name that effectively and efficiently shows an association with a particular topic, or registrants that want a domain name that allows them to identifiably communicate with people who associate or identify with particular topic through a video format face a domain name marketplace that provides them with few if any options for their purposes.
The .TUBE top-level domain will resolve this problem by providing registrants with an efficient, effective, prominent, instantly understood way of showing their association with the promotion of video format and channels, and provide those registrants who desire it a domain that that can effectively communicate information to such Internet users in an identifiable way, while at the same time providing competition with the existing TLDs and new gTLDs that will be approved by ICANN, thereby increasing consumer choice.
The goal of the .TUBE top-level domain is to establish itself as the recognized choice for registrants who want to market and promote themselves and their websites to, and reach, the Internet-using public, for business, political, personal or any other purpose, through an association with specialized topics or communities of interest promoted in video format; and, as the recognized top level domain name for Internet consumers to look for to know which people, businesses, information sources or other online resource associate themselves with particular topics or communities of interest.
We believe that the .TUBE top-level domain will add significantly to competition and differentiation in the top-level domain space, both for registrants and Internet consumers.
With respect to competition, registrants are presently extremely limited in their choice of domain names that allow them to efficiently and effectively associate themselves with particular topical video related sites and communities.
The availability of useful, effective, straight-forward domain names on existing top-level domains, such as .com, .net and .org, are few and far between, or may be for sale at prices that are out of reach for most. .TUBE will allow registrants to obtain useful, effective, straight-forward domain names rather than be forced to purchase, for example, their fifth, sixth or even later choice .com or .net name, which may well barely relate to the registrant’s purpose or use of the domain name and⁄or may be confusingly similar with numerous other .com or .net domain names.””