'India most important online market, not China'

[touchring]

Chennai is boom town.

[Rubber Duck]

Originally Posted by Jeff

What about the Tamil ppl?

Seems like english won't be the key then but probably a mix of tamil/hindi

Tamil is not actually one of the larger language groups but provides a focus for opposition to Hindi dominance.

I believe there are a least 10 local languages that will have considerable online content.

Not sure whether in areas that matter, there will be sufficient interest to sustain online content in English.

Frankly, I don't really care what they use. When you have a good selection of the ULTIMATE Generics, we are talking Moody Triple AAA here and then some, it doesn't really matter too much. There is next to no traffic in the scripts to date, but we are already getting most of it.

[drbiohealth]

OK, lets see this. I have stayed in the US, the UK and am Indian by origin. I am pretty comfortable with English. However, what is natural of me is "Hindi". If given a "choice" I would personally relish hindi more compared to english. Like for example, sitting in singapore I make sure I make myself updated on hindi news daily without fail every morning though there are thousands of english indian news sites online.

The point to note is, hindi never got a chance to come out of its shell. Most important reasons, as you have highlighted elsewhere, include non-portability of fonts, non-standard keyboards and computer/internet price. And all these three are being taken care of. As I see, internet will become a blooming ground for hindi.

IMHO, within say three years hindi will have a significant presence on internet. Let's see ..

Originally Posted by Dwrixon

How many people will access the internet in English by choice?

[IDNCowboy]

The problem with americans is that they think everyone in India speaks english (or should adapt to the language).. (or at least on these forums )
I believe to target the indian market we need hindi domains

[drbiohealth]

http://finance.yahoo.com/columnist/a...economist/2074

[Rubber Duck]

Originally Posted by drbiohealth

OK, lets see this. I have stayed in the US, the UK and am Indian by origin. I am pretty comfortable with English. However, what is natural of me is "Hindi". If given a "choice" I would personally relish hindi more compared to english. Like for example, sitting in singapore I make sure I make myself updated on hindi news daily without fail every morning though there are thousands of english indian news sites online.

The point to note is, hindi never got a chance to come out of its shell. Most important reasons, as you have highlighted elsewhere, include non-portability of fonts, non-standard keyboards and computer/internet price. And all these three are being taken care of. As I see, internet will become a blooming ground for hindi.

IMHO, within say three years hindi will have a significant presence on internet. Let's see ..

In economic terms Hindi is undoubtedly a sleeping 500Kg Gorilla that is about to arouse and start beating its chest. I am sure in linguistic terms it is one on the richest and most interesting languages on Earth. I sure feel intellectually impoverished not to speak even a few sentences. But who knows, maybe one day I will at least get to pronounce my own domain names.

[OldIDNer]

I agree generally that hindi does appear to be the way to go but top english names will always have value - English is an international language, and in a country like India, with the 2nd largest population of people in the world with significant familiarity with English, I believe English .ins will be used and do well as they already have very early on as indicated by some of the best .in resales and Indian sites branding in English, using .in.

But time will tell, as it always does.

Correction, population wise India is #2 and is expected to overtake China in the future.

[drbiohealth]

Well, I don't know about english.in domains. I have already done away with my 200 .ins . I think they will have a market which will be limited, but they will never reach the dizzy heights of english.coms. The only other thing that can perhaps reach those heights is IDN.IDN in different languages. IMO

[Rubber Duck]

Originally Posted by OldIDNer

I agree generally that hindi does appear to be the way to go but top english names will always have value - English is an international language, and in a country like India, with the largest population of people in the world (I believe - them and China are close) with significant familiarity with English, I believe English .ins will be used and do well as they already have very early on as indicated by some of the best .in resales and Indian sites branding in English, using .in.

But time will tell, as it always does.

I hope I am not being understood here. I don't really have a problem with English Keywords in dot in or their owners feeling optimistic about them. What I primarily object to is speculators hyping them on other forums as a key to the access of a Market of 1.1 Billion English speakers. This kind of hype is clearly aimed at exploiting the gullible, which I find offensive.

If they prove to be correct then all power to them, but in many cases I see it as offloading worthless junk. OK, it more than probable that some very generic English Keywords will provide access to some very successful sites, particulary where addressing an English Audience make sense. However, I have seen long lists of almost random dictionary terms being hyped, which I find insulting to my intelligence, but potentially financially damaging to the less well endowed.

[OldIDNer]

I agree with both of you.

[drbiohealth]

Dave,

I just realised that all the Indian states are virtually divided between two of us ..

[OldIDNer]

Originally Posted by drbiohealth

Well, I don't know about english.in domains. I have already done away with my 200 .ins . I think they will have a market which will be limited, but they will never reach the dizzy heights of english.coms. The only other thing that can perhaps reach those heights is IDN.IDN in different languages. IMO

I largely agree.

I'm curious, can you offer any examples of .in names that you let/are letting go?

[drbiohealth]

just a sample ...

anxiety
strippoker
epoker
sweepstakes
videocamera
webcamera
anxiety
babygifts
bhajan
broadbandphone
careereducation
collegedegrees
collegeloans
contactlense
continuingeducation
creditscores
debtmanagement
debtrelief
debtsolution
dentalplan
equityloan
fantasyfootball
foreclosure
genomics
giftbasket
healthproducts
homeequity
homefinance
hypertension
insurancequote
mattress
migraines
mortgagequote
onlinebingo
onlinecreditcard
onlineloans
onlinetax
overweight
painrelief
personaldebt
personalfinance
pethealth
pokerchips
refinanceloans
remortgage
secondmortgage
settlement
stockquote
stopsmoking
studentcreditcard
termlifeinsurance

[OldIDNer]

I see. Some ok names there. You really went to town! I only have about 15 total.

[a2zofb2b]

Originally Posted by drbiohealth

Indicus launches Hindi search engine

The search for regional languages on the Net has just got more competitive with the Republic Day launch of Raftaar.com, the first dedicated Hindi search-engine on the lines of Google.

Though touted as a nationalistic endeavour, the search site - developed by Delhi-based research firm Indicus Analytics - is backed by data that points to the growing number of online users that want to find Hindi content on the Net.

"The idea germinated after Juxt Consult (a sister concern of Indicus) conducted a random sample study in 2005. Of 31,382 Internet users in the study, 44 per cent wanted to see Hindi content," says Laveesh Bhandari, Head, Indicus Analytics, and promoter of Raftaar.com.
Source:Indian Express, India
Posted on: 03/2/2006 3:12:15 PM

We have our own Hindi search engine using Google API.
The interface allows both transliteration and hindi tying.
http://www.Hindi.co.in (www.खोज.com)

[drbiohealth]

Now no more .. .

That's a good effort! Have people started using it. That domain is cute too!

Originally Posted by a2zofb2b

We have our own Hindi search engine using Google API.
The interface allows both transliteration and hindi tying.
http://www.Hindi.co.in (www.खोज.com)

[OldIDNer]

I focused mainly on generic products and technology like mp3players.in/co.in searchengine.co.in, mobilephone.co.in and others.

[Rubber Duck]

Originally Posted by OldIDNer

I focused mainly on generic products and technology like mp3players.in/co.in searchengine.co.in, mobilephone.co.in and others.

I am sure if they are top generics then they will have value. There will not be enough Hindi terms or gTLDs to satisfy the best terms. Whether or not they will be as valuable as Hindi IDN dot coms is another matter.

[IDNCowboy]

Originally Posted by Dwrixon

I am sure if they are top generics then they will have value. There will not be enough Hindi terms or gTLDs to satisfy the best terms. Whether or not they will be as valuable as Hindi IDN dot coms is another matter.

look on google news for the past few months

the indian government has been embracing .co.in / .in domains no word on .com

[Rubber Duck]

Originally Posted by Jeff

look on google news for the past few months

the indian government has been embracing .co.in / .in domains no word on .com

Well, that is a no brainer, but just how many will they buy?