Why are .com's still preferred by Startups?

[Aarhint]

Hi,

I am curious to know why startup companies in India still prefer to go with .com rather than a .in

Does .com have a significant edge over the .in's in any way?

Also would like to know if .in domains will be worth the hype?

 

[Kokoro]

For international business affairs .com has always an edge on ccTLD, but if company is limited to India market then I think .in should be preferred. It may be also a matter of traditional thinking where .com was always there and .in is something relatively new and people often don't like changes. What I heard .in is growing faster than .com (in India) at this time so we should be confident here.

 

[mwzd]

.coms are global, .in is still mainly India and some parts of Europe and Asia.

For a new company, the .com is a no brainer, you don't have to add the extension to the branding.

But .IN is catching up fast, there are hundreds of companies not based in India using .in and startups in the US too like outside.in

 

[Aubits]

For a company brand name, I would go with .com as well, simply for a global reach. But also register the .in for an India focussed website.

.in/.co.in have a lot of growth left and .coms will have a much slower growth rate (most domains will just change hands). Clearly India being one of the fastest growing market helps the .in/.co.in domains in the long run and many global corporations are looking for a presence - physical and virtual for the indian market.

Indian companies may realize the value of .in/.co.in domains later than global and foreign companies. There is an old Indian saying for this..(you don't value something in your backyard until someone else does).

 

[chaudi]

For keyword value .in is much cheaper. I notice a lot of indian firms register some strange choices for domains. It's a type of marketing that has to become more popular. If you want to attract business in India then .in is ideal. But anyone can use it with a good key word, why not?
Here is an example of indian company picking a strange name : f37.in

 

[M.Y]

the problem with any start-ups around the world these days is that it's very difficult to find your desired domain in a .com .net or .org extension, hence the increasing popularity of ccTLD such as .in

if the company aims to have an international presence then i would recommend going for the .co extension along with the .in

 

[Dman]

It depends...
Some in India have a bit of an 'equality complex'. They want to demonstrate that they can do whatever anyone in the west can, etc, etc... This is why .com still plays so heavily with startups in India. Because .com is what plays in the West and there are a lot in India who simply duplicate what they see in the west rather than taking a more targeted approach.

Still, that said, the last time I was there, I was starting to see .in names pretty regularly. Obviously, Indian business still has a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong way to go before they're online to the same degree of ubiquity as western business, but they're getting there and it's one of those things that when it happens, it will happen very quickly.

 

[Ace]

It depends...
Some in India have a bit of an 'equality complex'. They want to demonstrate that they can do whatever anyone in the west can, etc, etc... This is why .com still plays so heavily with startups in India. Because .com is what plays in the West and there are a lot in India who simply duplicate what they see in the west rather than taking a more targeted approach.

Still, that said, the last time I was there, I was starting to see .in names pretty regularly. Obviously, Indian business still has a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong way to go before they're online to the same degree of ubiquity as western business, but they're getting there and it's one of those things that when it happens, it will happen very quickly.

".COM" is king because of "equality complex" is BS, theories made out of thin air.

 

[Dman]

".COM" is king because of "equality complex" is BS, theories made out of thin air.

The 'equality complex' isn't even debatable. Many Indians in the business world have a huge complex about being perceived as 'equal' to the west and are very sensitive when differences are mentioned. This effects and directs how they conduct themselves and their business in international dealings.

As to why .com is still used by Indian startups, there's no doubt that a lot of these groups simply repeat what they see done in the west. I've worked with plenty, I've been to India on a few occasions, love it there, but it is what it is.

 

[Ace]

The 'equality complex' isn't even debatable. Many Indians in the business world have a huge complex about being perceived as 'equal' to the west and are very sensitive when differences are mentioned. This effects and directs how they conduct themselves and their business in international dealings.

As to why .com is still used by Indian startups, there's no doubt that a lot of these groups simply repeat what they see done in the west. I've worked with plenty, I've been to India on a few occasions, love it there, but it is what it is.

Stop calling it a complex, all humans are born equal, isn't that the premise of your fore-fathers?

 

[Dman]

You're really opening a can of worms here.

No, they said "all men are created equal", which is an outdated mode of thinking. We now know that humans weren't 'created'. We evolved over time, on different continents, in different climates, with entirely different Darwinian trajectories. As such, when it comes to certain things, no, I do not believe all people are 'equal'. It's absurd to think this, no different than it's ridiculous for us to think that all breeds of horses stand an equal chance of winning the Kentucky Derby.

The idea of universal equality amongst men is a nice thought, but per all evidence, it just isn't true.

Still, I do believe that whatever genetic difference may exist can be mostly overcome with upbringing and a well ordered social structure.

India is making great strides, but it has baggage. The average IQ 81, yet supreme genius has originated from there. Some of the worlds wealthiest men are from India, yet it has some of the most staggering poverty on earth. I believe this is where a lot of that 'equality complex' is derived. Professional, capable Indians don't want to be judged based on the baggage and can be sensative about how they're perceived.

Every time I've traveled there on business, I've encountered this sentiment as a regular matter of course.

 

[Ace]

India is making great strides, but it has baggage. The average IQ 81, yet supreme genius has originated from there. Some of the worlds wealthiest men are from India, yet it has some of the most staggering poverty on earth.

You are insane. Trust me. You just have superiority complex. Go on ranting and open can of worms. This is my last reply in the thread.

 

[Dman]

You are insane. Trust me. You just have superiority complex. Go on ranting and open can of worms. This is my last reply in the thread.

Of course its your last post. You cannot refute anything I've said with fact.

What is insane about that quote? Nothing. It's fact, whether you like it or not.

 

[itssri]

@Ace @Dman

Just chanced upon this thread. There was no need for the slinging match. The actual reason is the way the domain thing started in India.

When the Internet scene burst open it was all COM and that happened almost simultaneously in India along with the USA. So COM got stamped well into the Indian psyche. Then the Indian registry opened up and CO.IN was in. And lot's of multi-national companies setup their regional ops on CO.INs. So that was next in popularity. Then IN gained momentum relatively recently and again it's the outside companies (and domainers) who are registering IN more than the end users.

I did a small research of my own across a variety of average persons on the street, at shopping malls etc. (persons who could be end users). The conversation goes like this:

me - hey! I got some raunchy jokes on this website called licked...
them - you mean licked.com? (100% people asked this)
me - no...
them - ah, so it is licked.co.in? (90%+ asked this)
me - no...
them - then what? net? org? (60%+ asked this)
me - no... it's licked.in.
them - oh! ok. I will check it.

Plus there's another reason many Indian business entities seem to "not venture beyond COM" is because the name they want is available in COM! Surprised! Not to be, because the names people want to register in India are more like vanity oriented than keyword oriented. So, for example, they would go for names like:

dmantechno.com - LOL, this is available
acetechno.com - sorry, this one's not

 

[itssri]

Comparing USA and India - the ccTLD "IN" is better known/popular among Indians than the ccTLD "US" is among Americans, most of whom seem to believe COM is for USA only!

And, quite contrary to what some people think USA people register COM because they think it's "the" TLD for USA while advanced Indian people register COM because they want global audience and Indian old-timers because they don't know there's Internet beyond COM.

PS: I have observed that, Canada entities are very passionate about CA, much more than India with IN or USA with US.