NSOL tanking...if it goes well below 80 I'm buying.
Here's a good article regarding the registrars. The important thing to keep in mind is that NSOL gets 9 bucks apiece per year for doing less work. Registrations will explode once AOL gets into the act and NSOL's revenue will increase with it. They're the market leader and will continue to get most of the Non-AOL registrations so it's win-win for them. IMHO:
5 Picked To Register Web Addresses
AP Online, Thursday, April 22, 1999 at 03:39
By TED BRIDIS
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The organization that will manage much of the
Internet selected five companies, including America Online, to help
consumers register Web addresses.
The decision by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers represents an important 60-day experiment aimed at opening
the worldwide computer network to capitalist competition.
Consumers who want to register addresses now must pay $35 each
year to Virginia-based Network Solutions Inc., which has enjoyed a
lucrative exclusive agreement with the government since 1993.
Under plans announced Wednesday, people can instead pay AOL or
four other companies or continue doing business with Network
Solutions, which also will continue to administer a master list of
more than 4 million Web addresses ending in ''com,'' ''net'' or
''org.''
AOL Senior Vice President George Vradenburg called it ''an
important step in the Internet's evolution.''
Robert Seidman, who distributes an e-mail newsletter about AOL
to 50,000 subscribers, predicted that AOL, the world's largest
Internet provider, will encourage its more than 17 million members
to register vanity Web addresses.
''It's pretty easy to see that they'll try to get to the space
of personal vanity Web site hosting,'' Seidman said. ''They have a
huge infrastructure from a promotional point of view to support
that. The opportunity for them is going to be huge. There, they'll
have an advantage over anyone.''
In exchange for Network Solutions administering the master list
of addresses, the five companies agreed to pay it a one-time fee of
$100,000, plus $9 per year for each address they register.
That helped propel Network Solutions stock 53 percent higher
Wednesday; it rose $32 to close at $92.
AOL hasn't decided what price it will ultimately charge
consumers, spokesman Jim Whitney said, adding that ''questions of
marketing, pricing, are all for down the road.''
Network Solutions said it will continue charging $35 a year.
The U.S. government announced last year it plans to largely end
its management of the Internet and turn over control of most
functions to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers, a California-based nonprofit group.
The government would still be responsible for assigning Internet
addresses with the ''gov'' and ''mil'' suffixes for federal
agencies and military institutions, respectively.
The other four companies selected were the Internet Council of
Registrars, France Telecom, Melbourne IT and Register.Com.
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