After doing a small bit of research, I would like to give a 3rd party outside observation on IDNS.
IMHO, IDNs will indeed make some people extremely rich, but others will never see their fortunes fall.
It basically boils down to this: traffic and ease of typeablity.
I do not like how everyone in this forum is screaming how each one of them will become an IDN millionare. The fact is you wont. Like all other markets, around 10% will become really really successful. More then half will get little or no return.
The way I see IDNS is through the perspective of the keyboard, which brings me to this question.
How in the world will the chinese be able to type a chinese domain QUICKLY and EFFECTIVELY. I know you can type in chinese with the RIGHT program, but you do know it is a pain in the ass to type characters right?
You must type in the pin yin version, then choose the word by clicking on it, which will then finally appear on the computer screen.
This way of typing is quite ineffective and SLOW. The typical internet user will NOT Waste his time typing pin yin correctly in order to reach a website....
I think that all 3+ Chinese character domains are worthless and will never materialize due to this laziness factor.
It really puzzles me why people are registering all kinds of chinese idns.
This is the chinese keyboard:
http://libai.math.ncu.edu.tw/bcc16/p...i-keyboard.jpg
You CANT type 99% of the all chinese keywords directly via keyboard. IT IS A PAIN to do so!!!
Same with Japanese characters.
Now, onto IDNS that will prosper.
Notice that this is the SPANISH keyboard:
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/its/faciliti...ds/spanish.gif
Now, it looks like the english keyboard except for one small thing... it has the ñ symbol.
A typical spanish user CAN type in the ñ easily, as if typing in another letter.
THIS is what the goldmine in IDNS really is for! Once IE7 does become released España.com will be worth a TON of money! Easily typable in the native language = $$$$$$.
I hope you see what I mean.
In a NUTSHELL: IDNS that can be typed easily as a "letter" on the keyboard are the ones that will get traffic when IE7 is released. It is imperative to register these names before the general public is aware of such things.
I do not see Japanese or Chinese domains taking off due to the complexity of typing domain names.
Let me know if you have any comments,
Sam