.SO is coming. SO, here's an interview with the gentlemen behind the new .so registry
POSTED BY Rick Latona IN Web Sites

It's always a good thing when a company gets the right to market a ccTLD globally. It's good for the industry and good for the country that grants the contract.

Recently GMO Registry has been appointed by The Transitional Federal Government of The Somali Republic to market .so, the country code for Somalia.. [The domain Somalia.com is for sale for anyone that is interested]

Over the weekend I asked Hiro Tsukahara some questions about the new extension and he was kind enough to answer. I hit him hard in the beginning but I think I asked the questions we'd all be curious about.

Overall, I like .so. While it may not have what it takes to become one of the big extensions, it has its place and I'm sure GMO will run a nice business with it.  I'm especially happy to hear him tell us that a portion of the proceeds will go to help Somalians.

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Rick -  It's interesting that you've cut a deal with Somalia for the .so extension. Can you tell us about your interactions with them? Who in the country do you deal with? What were they like?

Hiro Tsukahara - Our first encounter with the gentlemen from Somalia was in Nairobi, right before the ICANN meeting earlier this year. We immediately sat down for discussions and met again at a later date in Tokyo to finalize the deal. Those we are in talks with represent The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, and are nothing but great individuals each of whom manouevre multiple languages, which depict the high standards of education within the country.

Rick -  How secure is the partnership you have with the central registry? Is there any risk that something would happen that would cost the registrants their domains?

Hiro Tsukahara - The partnership with the The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications is set and firm. In regard to "risk," we don't see that there is any more risk for registrants than there is when registering other ccTLD domain names.

Rick -  Can you tell us about your sunrise period?

Hiro Tsukahara - The sunrise period, open to any trademark holder, is projected to begin on the 20th of October, 2010.

Rick - When will general registration take place?

Hiro Tsukahara - General Registration will begin on March 1st, 2011.

Rick - What will the price point be per domain?

Hiro Tsukahara - General Registration fee per domain will be around $20/year (depending on the registrar).

Rick - Will you be holding back premium domains for auction?

Hiro Tsukahara - Yes, premium domains will be held for auction at a later date.

Rick Please tell us anything else you would like our readers to know about the extension.

Hiro Tsukahara - Since Somalia remains to be a country where help is needed in many areas, GMO Registry will donate parts of its operating profit to provide necessary aide especially for children.

Through the project, we aim to start a global awareness campaign where we hope to see domains registered as means of charity to make Somalia a better place to live.

That's great Hiro. Thanks so much for the interview.

  • http://www.zamaanonline.com zamaan

    Thanks for the article,

    Will too many TLD's will spoil the soup (domaining industry)?

  • Jack

    .so = .specialoffers ?

    That's all I can think of

  • http://www.hallpassmedia.com Bill Kara

    Somalia has been without an effective central government since Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991...

    Nope, no risk at all.

  • Nic

    "good for the country that grants the contract."

    You think .co is good for the people of Columbia? I don't. I think its exploitation.

  • http://www.newfoundnames.com Alan

    There is no limit to the amount of extensions people will launch and promote to suck money out of domain investors. Bill said it best ... nope, no risk at all here :-)

    Fools make this world go around.

  • http://www.eahp.com Eberhard

    So if Somalia has been without an effective government for 20 years, as Bill pointed out, who is running "The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications", as Hiro likes to call it?

  • http://CityForum.com Anthony

    Allan ... you are great my Canadian friend :)

    Anthony

  • http://www.loganflatt.com Logan

    I don't think the poor people of Somalia will see a penny of this. Most of the money will end up in personal bank accounts in Zurich.

  • Alan

    Logan,

    Don't be so cynical - I'm sure some poor family will get a bottle of water to hold on to for a photo opp -)

  • http://www.youtube.com/mrdeleted Joseph Slabaugh

    SO Significant Other
    SO Sistema Operativo (Italian: Operating System)
    SO Somalia
    SO Sold Out
    SO Southampton (UK postal code)
    SO Symphony Orchestra
    SO Sign Off
    SO Shut Out (sports)
    SO Special Order
    SO Special Operations
    SO Sheriff's Office
    SO Sub-Optimal
    SO Service Order
    SO Strike Out
    SO Special Olympics
    SO Shutout (baseball)
    SO Second Order
    SO Shared Object (UNIX)
    SO Security Officer
    SO Student Organization
    SO Strung Out (band)
    SO School's Out
    SO Shaquille O'neal (NBA Player)
    SO Stack Overflow
    SO System Operator
    SO Solothurn (Soleure; Suisse Canton)
    SO Standing Order
    SO Sistema Operacional (Brazil: Operating System)
    SO Standard Oil
    SO Star Ocean (video game)
    SO Senior Officer
    SO Safety Officer
    So Siehe Oben (German: see above)
    SO Sales Order
    SO Send Only
    SO Southern Oscillation
    SO Strategic Objective
    SO Sims Online (game)
    SO Staff Officer
    SO Server Options
    SO Safety Office
    SO Southern Company (stock symbol)
    SO Systems Operations
    SO Staff Officer (commissioned Police Officer attached to Inspector-General of Police)
    SO Sud-Ouest (French: south west)
    SO Shift-Out
    SO Science Olympiad
    SO Scottish Office
    SO Service Object
    SO System Owner (US NIST)
    SO South/Southern
    SO Second Officer
    SO Small-Outline
    SO Successful Offeror
    SO Spatial Orientation
    SO Sales Out
    SO Station Operator
    SO System Outage
    SO Sud-Ovest (Italian: Southwest)
    SO Supervisor's Office (USDA)
    SO Serial Output
    SO Sector Outperform (investing)
    SO System Overload
    SO Supply Officer
    SO Station Officer
    SO Strategic Outsourcing (IBM)
    SO Stuck Open
    SO Steward Observatory (University of Arizona)
    SO Socket Outlet (British, electrical)
    SO Switching Office
    SO Specialist Operations
    SO Seller's Option
    SO Sea Organization (Scientology)
    SO Special Orthogonal (mathematics; group theory)
    SO Semantic Object
    SO Superior Oblique (eye muscle)
    SO Sensor Operator
    SO Sondrio, Lombardia (Italian province)
    SO Sans Opinion (French : No Preference)
    SO Stewardship Ontario (Canada)
    SO Safety Observer
    SO Southern Airways (airline)
    SO System Overheat
    SO Slow Oxidative
    SO Solid Optical
    SO Service Observe
    SO Surface Operator (MFD)
    SO Division Staff Officer
    SO Semi-Orthogonal
    SO Show of Oil (drilling reports)
    SO Source of Orgasm
    SO Synchronous Oscillator
    SO Shutout(s) (hockey)
    SO Stockage Objective(s)
    SO Supporting Organization of ICANN
    SO Service Overseer (Jehovah's Witnesses)
    SO Schriftelijke Overhoring
    SO Saneringsonderzoek (Dutch: soil remediation research)
    SO Step Off Ministry
    SO Shipment/Shipping Order
    SO Solicitation Officer
    SO Seige Onager (Age of Kings game)
    SO Südost/Südosten (German: South-East)

  • emma

    This is nothing but crap. I keep telling people, please get yourself a life. domaining is useless, it's insane and immoral. These folks domaining are nothing but thieves.

  • http://www.youtube.com/mrdeleted Joseph Slabaugh

    How is it immoral exactly? Owning a domain name is in many ways like owning land. If you want to call us "squatters", well back in the day, someone had to "squat" on land before others ended up buying it. Over the years, people sold land cause they knew they would make a profit from doing so, and in that respect .coms (and other extentions for that matter) have been sold just like real estate. I currently own a piece of land, and am buying a 2nd. I see nothing wrong with owning real estate either in cyber space or the land that people build houses and businesses on.

  • http://www.genericdomainfinder.com danny

    I'm definitely skeptical.... maybe a bit more stable than owning .kp or .zw virtual real estate, but by how much? I'll stick with my .com, net, and orgs.

  • Emma

    Listen folks: The only people making money domaining are the domain registrars and domain extension marketers. They would tell you anything about domains so that you register domains and when you do so they got you in their trap. You have to renew the domains every year hoping you will sell them at a exorbitant price and that will never happen, before yes, not now. To sell a domain name today you must be lucky, just like winning a lottery. Don't please go by SEDO sale reports. They are fake. Most of the sale Sedo reports are fictitious, they never took place, if they take place then is a fixed sale. They would register any names any day and they would sell to themselves and then report the sale, this is to give impression that domains are selling well. Be smart Folks

  • http://www.zihra.com Soud

    Yet another extension...I kinda agree with Emma, get the domain (the cheese) and you're trapped (like a mouse). It's those domaining articles out there that makes you optimistic that the industry is growing and people making money out of it (those articles are the smell of the cheese that will bring you to the trap :) BUT, there are some smart mice out there BUT all the good cheese has gone a long time ago ;)

  • http://www.twitter.com/domainanimal Mike

    one way or the other, we're going to hear a lot of iToldYou.so :)

  • http://www.youtube.com/mrdeleted Joseph Slabaugh

    I am not saying I think a fortune can be made here, but to say it is immoral to own a domain is crazy talk. I am not going to make a huge investment into it, just like in .co I got only 2, and that is all I want to do for now...

    Anyway if you can get some keywords, fine, develop them, but do not go after "lets sit on them" type domain names.

  • http://www.domaines-online.fr david chelly

    Hi Emma,
    not everybody in this industry is useless. I agree that this interview is frightening, and that on the whole US domain name gourous have almost no expertise nor ethics.

  • Abdiweli

    Its unfortunate that the resources of my country is been sold in black market.

    I am a British Somali, who have attempted to manage this TLD name for so many long and have met no co-operation from the Somali ministry of post and telecommunication. I did not put pressure on them as I knew the government had a bigger priority that management of TLD name.

    This is an unfortunate news for me and for many other somali professionals in the diaspora. One day, those who sold and those who got away with this will stand in front a court.

  • Mohamud Hersi

    This is complete sham and there is no legal standing. according to the law such international agreements must be debated and approved by the Somali parliment. in 2009 similar agreement regarding Southern Somali coast boundary line with Kenya was rejected by the parliment and became "nill and Void".

    I advice to the Japanese idoits who trying to loot and cooperate mafia style in Nairobi and Tokyo to drop this scandalous so called domain agreement and get something more tangible in Asian market.
    Finally those who particapted in this so called black market scandal must put on trial and face justice or transfer to Al shabeeb authority so they may given them.

  • Abdiweli

    The TLD was transfered to the ministry of post and telecommunication on 6 feb 2009. The ministry has not put to tender this, which makes the contract a fraudulent and illegal.
    I know there is now a campaign already started by some Somali professionals and lawyers to bring into book those criminals who are acting worse than piracy.
    I now have a feeling that piracy and the civil war may be fueled by this international mafia, who have no regard for international law and order.

  • http://banooda.com Abdulrahman Aligab

    Tell these shameless Japanese looter that even though Somalia has been without a central authority since 1991, let him not forget that its people have the capacity to pursue him and are on his heels. For those thinking on the same line with this thief, be warned that you aren't seeing nor heard nothing yet as you are currently talking of piracy on the sea but you will see the true colours of the Somali people when they follow your ass on the so called SO TLD.
    So retract before things get out hand.

  • Abdiweli

    My advice to anyone interested in assisting this Japanese piracy, please buy domains such as: iwillregret.com.so, iwasfoolish.com.so, iparticipatedindomainpiracy.com.so, iwaswarned.com.so.
    The good news is there is a good campaign within the Somali parliament and within the Somali diaspora in the west and soon there will be good results, with the involvement of some well respected international lawyers.

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