Ian, my point is that the product (domain name licence) is not needed by the
vast majority of prospective consumers.  Whether hard advertising will
change that is a moot point.

You cite an existing 266 000 registrants.  I'm referring to the relevance of
the product to the other 3 000 000 business prospects who *aren't*
registrants.  They neither want nor have got the product, and they won't
want or get it until there's a need other than the product itself.

Ron Stark

-----Original Message-----
From: Ian Johnston [mailto:ian.johnston§infobrokers.com.au]
Sent: Tuesday, 11 June 2002 1:18 PM
To: dns§lists.auda.org.au
Cc: Ron Stark
Subject: RE: [DNS] Competition between 2LDs & monopoly registry
operators


Ron Stark wrote Tuesday, June 11, 2002 11:52 AM

> Ian, what's the point of effective competition and lower
> prices, when you're dealing with a product that
> consumers neither want nor believe they need?
> (and here I'm talking about new markets)

Ron

I don't understand the point you are making.

The product I'm referring to is a domain name licence or, if you like,
a domain name.

A domain name allocated to a registrant is a globally unique product -
a pure private good.  No other person or organisation can be assigned
the same name at the same time.

That's what consumers want and get.

There's a lot of consumers of domain names (licences) out there who
have them - over 266,000 of them as at 18 October last year (according
to auDA's Request for Tender: Registry Licence Agreement for .au
Second Level Domains).



--
Ian Johnston, Policy Consultant
Small Enterprise Telecommunications Centre (SETEL)
www.setel.com.au  mailto:ian.johnston§setel.com.au
02 6258 3409 (B/F)  02 6259 7777 (B)  0413 990 112 (M)

SETEL is a national small business consumer association
advancing the interest of Australian small business
as telecommunications and e-commerce consumers