Besides the usual aftermarket sites, over the past few weeks I have seen a number of blogs, and even some Google Adword campaigns (vet.tel comes to mind), advertising premium .TEL names for sale.

Although .TEL aftermarket activity is on the increase, it’s important to note that a lot of great names are still available in the primary market. Before you fork over more than $30 for an aftermarket .TEL, make sure you search out variants and related word combinations at a .TEL registrar, you might be surprised at what is still available.

Happy .TEL hunting!

Anyways, read Luke’s article re-posted below, it opens the door to the underlying potential of .TEL that seems to be missing from much of the current dialogue about the new extension.

Are .TEL Addresses the New Vanity Phone Numbers?

Follow me for a second; in just a few lines, I aim to convince you that .tel addresses are not another TLD. There’s really something else going on here.

By far the most convincing attribute of .tel addresses isn’t what most blogs are talking about — quickly updating data, no hosting, etc. — but that, if apps are developed for mobile phones, instead of having phone numbers in your phone, you could store .tel domains that your friends can update as their info changes (putting your friends in control of *their* contact information stored in *your* phone). This means no more “dead numbers” or emails flying back and forth saying “I changed my number.” There must be 1,000s of Facebook status updates and 100,000s of emails daily that inform people of changes in phone numbers. All of these people would immediately understand what .tel offers: It takes a headache away for them — and that alone is worth the $10-$20/year to register a .tel.

What does this mean in the short term? It means that .tel addresses could become a new way to contact people (it’s easier to remember than a phone number AND, as the data stored on the .tel changes, those changes will automatically propagate to all the mobile devices the .tel contact is saved on). There are privacy issues that will need to be ironed out — not everyone wants just anyone to be able to contact them (as an aside, corporations do!) – but everyone evaluating .tel should understand this: It’s not what *you* see on the .tel “page”; it’s what your mobile device sees – up-to-date contact information stored not on your phone, but on a central server.

What does this mean in the long term? It means that .tel domains could become the new vanity phone numbers. Remember the trade in 1-800 numbers of the 1990s? Many early domainers do – that’s what got them to recognize the scarcity of domains early on.

Here’s a long shot: It’s possible that generic .tel domains could become more valuable than generic 1-800 numbers. If the concept of .tel domains as proxies for phone numbers takes off, you’ll get more unsolicited, pre-qualified leads from people typing RealEstate.tel (not one of mine) into a browser or mobile device than you would from 1-800-RealEstate. My rationale: When is the last time you dialed a generic 1-800 number when looking for something? For me, never. When is the last time you typed in a generic domain when you were looking for something? For me, a few times a day. .tel could have the characteristics of vanity 1-800 numbers AND some of the type-in-traffic benefits of TLDs.

If you agree with any of this at all, send it to Digg or Reddit, link to it, Twitter it, etc. and let’s let the public debate it.

Additional thought:
I emailed a version of this post to a friend the other day. Let’s say his name is John Doe. Right before I clicked “send,” I thought, “What if on my phone I typed JohnDoe2.tel (assuming JohnDoe.tel is taken) to call my friend and to email him I did the same – just typed JohnDoe2.tel into the email “To” field?” Similar to the discussion above, either my email provider or an app I’m using would identify my friend’s email address from JohnDoe2.tel and send the email to that. I wouldn’t have to remember his email address or look it up.

More Information:

Continuing with exploration of how .TEL can and might be used as things unfold, also check out our previously published article, .TEL – The Ultimate in Online Identity Protection.

Check out Luke’s blog Domain Synergies for further reading on domain names and related topics.

If, like Latona, you are a domain investor who is “not entirely sure what to think about .TEL names, especially when it concerns the reseller market,” you should read this interview.

Here’s an excerpt:

Latona:                                                                                                                                                                                                                             How can my audience (professional domainers) profit from .TEL names?

Mahdavi:                                                                                                                                                                                                                The .TEL adds several monetization opportunities that investors should appreciate which widen the ability for a domain developer to generate revenue in parallel with traditional website-driven monetization strategies.

The .TEL spreads the risk of investing over multiple methods of generating revenue, such as PPC and premium rate numbers for voting and betting services.  There is also value in owning vanity names, whether business or consumer focused.  It’s also possible to run a commercial directory service under a .TEL domain and, of course, it is possible to provide links to revenue generating e-commerce storefronts.  Additionally, due to the unique content published in a .TEL domain, pairing it with existing investments in .com and other domain names will lead to better SEO – a key goal in revenue generation.

Other questions brought forward by Latona include:

How has your launch gone so far? Have you registered more, less or about what you expected?                                           
Don’t you think that bloggers and individuals would be more likely to get .TEL names if they were less expensive?

Addressing the domaining community, Mahdavi concludes the interview by saying: 

The .TEL is now creating new opportunities for the domainer community, as well as a new ecosystem that includes non-traditional players entering the domain name industry, such as social networking sites, directory service providers and Voice over IP companies. Some have already begun the process of becoming an ICANN Accredited registrar as they see the potential of the .TEL as a communications hub for businesses and individuals. We believe that these non-traditional players will be a driving force of growth for .TEL domains and the domain name industry as a whole and lead to a new value being assigned to domain names.

Read the interview for yourself and let us know if you think Mahdavi’s answers measure up.

Register/Pre-register .TEL domains risk free for Landrush and General Registration with an official .TEL registrar.