WashingtonPost.com (www.washingtonpost.com) announced on April 19 that a man from St. Augustine, Florida, registered the domain name BenedictXVI.com (http://BenedictXVI.com) on April 1, hoping that that would be the name of John Paul II's successor. The man in question, Rogers Cadenhead, also registered ClementXV.com, InnocentXIV.com, LeoXIV.com, PaulVII.com, and PiusXIII.com. Cadenhead registered the names for $12 each from the Internet address seller Bulkregister.com (www.bulkregister.com). BenedictXVI.com currently links to Cadenhead's blog.
eBay (www.ebay.com) announced on April 19 that the domain name WeHaveAPope.com (www.WeHaveAPope.com) is for sale with a starting bid of $150 or an immediate sale price of $2000. Once the process ends at the Vatican that selects the new pope, the words "We Have A Pope!" will be used to announce to the world who that person is. Other names can also be found related to the events that have taken place since the death of Pope John Paul II.
The dedicated Web hosting provider EV1Servers (www.ev1servers.net) announced on April 18 that it has received approval to become an ICANN-accredited domain name registrar. With its new status, EV1Servers will be eligible to handle the .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info and .us domains.
The Inquirer (www.theinquirer.net) announced on April 18 that the Web hosting provider 1&1 Internet (www.1and1.co.uk) charges UK residents £10.45 to register a .com domain name, while customers in the USA or Canada are charged just $5.99 (£3.15) for the same service.
The intelligent infrastructure service provider VeriSign (www.verisign.com) announced on April 11 that it will place a new Internet domain server for .com and .net in Sao Paulo, Brazil, by the end of June. The new server will provide Latin American Internet users with enhanced connections, greater security and increased reliability for .com and .net commerce and communications. VeriSign's new Brazil server will provide higher connection speeds, enhanced security and greater reliability of Internet services for the more than 22 million Internet users in Brazil and the more than 58 million total Internet users in Latin America.
The Web hosting provider and domain name registrar Register.com (www.register.com) announced on April 11 that it has lowered the price for its single-year domain names from $35 to $30. Register.com's move comes just weeks after another large registrar and Web hosting provider, Network Solutions(www.networksolutions.com), started giving away free single-year domain registrations to new Web hosting customers. Network Solutions charges a single-year price of $35.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (www.icann.org) announced on April 11 that it has adopted two new sponsored top-level domains. The new domains, .jobs and .travel, will be run by the registry operators Employ Media (http://employmedia.com) and Tralliance Corporation (www.tralliance.info).
DomainMart (www.domainmart.com), a provider of domain name appraisal services, announced on April 7 the launch of the industry’s first domain name valuation methodology based on parking revenue. The new valuation service is based on the Net Present Value (NPV) methodology, whereby the expected cash flows are estimated by assuming that the domain name is parked to generate traffic revenue. The analysis considers various CF growth scenarios. The traffic income business model focuses on domain names that generate clicks. This is achieved by placing advertiser links on a Web page. Every time a visitor clicks on any of the links the advertiser pays the link manager a fee, i.e., pay-per-click (PPC).
The domain name registrar and Web hosting provider GoDaddy.com (www.godaddy.com) announced on April 7 the opening of its third call center. Located in Gilbert, Arizona, the new call center will initially seat 450-500 full-time employees, and is projected to reach a capacity of 1200-1400 full-time employees within a year. Go Daddy maintains two other call centers in Phoenix and Scottsdale.
Register.com, Inc. (www.register.com), a provider of domain name registration and Internet services, announced on April 7 that it has received a notice from The Nasdaq Stock Market (www.nasdaq.com) indicating that Register.com’s shares of common stock are subject to potential delisting from the Nasdaq National Market for failing to file its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended on December 31, 2004, in a timely fashion.
