City Domains in Native Languages

[networker]

Well - city domains in their native languages seem to be one of the best/most secure investments in IDNs, but my question to everyone is - what is a minimum population threshold that you deem worthy of investing in? 10,000? 50,000? 100,000?

Obviously it depends on the country, and other aspects of the cities, but I'm just trying to get a general understanding of what's worth investing in.

[blastfromthepast]

Originally Posted by networker

Well - city domains in their native languages seem to be one of the best/most secure investments in IDNs, but my question to everyone is - what is a minimum population threshold that you deem worthy of investing in? 10,000? 50,000? 100,000?

Obviously it depends on the country, and other aspects of the cities, but I'm just trying to get a general understanding of what's worth investing in.

Some cities have populations of many millions that are too poor to afford a phone. If the economy is bad in a city, with poor political prospects, it isn't going to be a good investment.

Take a look at the Global Cities thread in the members section for an grasp of some serious research into what makes a City worthy of investment.

http://www.idnforums.com/forums/3507...ce-2006-a.html

I'd say if you own any city name from the list on there, you are doing well. Obviously the higher up, the more valuable.

[Rubber Duck]

Well, I didn't see much enlightenment there I am afraid.

Most search by citiies is done internally rather than externally, so this global reach model doesn't work for me.

Size is obviously crucial and there is going to be a critical point probably somewhere between 100K and 250K where the critical mass drops so low that people look to something bigger. Take Woking which went for about $8K the other day. Most of the upper middle class probably make their living in London rather than locally. It is just a place on the way to somewhere else.

Internet connectivity is important, but you really need to be looking forward 2 to 3 years by which time most of the World will be getting online in some shape or form.

Personal disposable income is important. The more people have to spend the more advertisers are interested in them. On the other hand there are items which tend to be regarded as essentials which everyone needs one of but sometimes only one, take water meters in China. Therefore even this criteria isn't everything.

Don't forget currency exchange rates are greatly distorting the World Economy and also distort the way we measure it even more. The truth is that economies such as China and India have always been much bigger than we have given them credit for. They are also expanding much more rapidly than we are giving them credit for. Japan's economy grew at an incredible rate in the latter part of the last century. This growth was not really covered by the reported growth figures, but by adjustments in the exchange rate to reflect the reality of the situation.

Just remember, there are lies, damned lies and statistics.