Nominet have approved plans to offer registrations .uk Internet domain names. Currently in the UK default country domains are .co.uk, with some organisations using .org.uk or similar.
Offering .uk domains for the first time will bring the UK in line with the likes of Germany (.de) and France (.fr) and give shorter more elegant domain names. Due for release some time in the summer of 2014 it means we could soon see eBay.uk and Amazon.uk become the default websites of choice.
Nominet have already announced that those who already own a domain such as .co.uk or .org.uk will get first dibs on the new .uk domain. They’ll offer a free reservation of the .uk domains for five years to enable businesses taking up the new domain do so when it’s convenient and to allow for refresh of stationary etc. Cost will be £3.50/year for single year registrations and £2.50/year for multi-year registrations
If two different people own a current domain (e.g. someone owns .co.uk and someone owns .org.uk), then the .co.uk owner will get first option on the new .uk domain.
In some ways I like this, a shorter domain is always a good thing. However what I foresee happening is that everyone will be more or less obliged to own the .uk and the .co.uk domain and simply end up paying for both. On Tamebay we generally use Tamebay.com, but of course we also have Tamebay.co.uk and I guess we’ll buy Tamebay.uk just so that no one else can grab it.
What do you think? If you set up a new website would you buy just the .uk domain or would you buy .co.uk as well?
4 Responses
Good news that they will be allowing co.uk owners first dibs on the .uk but a bit pointless really, apart from a good way for them to generate a substantial income.
I spent £7.5k on my co.uk not that long ago – which will I get ranking on Google now – will they allow both to rank, or will one of the domains just go to waste, I wonder…