Google launches 'Domain Registration Services'

Google Inc. on Friday announced the launch of a domain name search and registration service, in a move aimed at extending its private-label calendar, e-mail, and IM service called Google Apps for Your Domain (GAFYD).

The Mountain View-based company has partnered with Scottsdale, Arizona-based GoDaddy and Bellevue, Washington-based eNom, the two domain name registrars that help Web sites officially register their names under domains like ‘.com’ and ‘.net, in order to provide the new domain name registration services.

Telling about the benefits one can enjoy with the newly launched service, Raju Gulabani, director of product management for the service said, "Previously, if you wanted to use Google Apps for Your Domain, you had to have a domain," adding that "With this addition, we're expanding to those customers that don't have a domain."

The online search leader plans to sell domains for $10 a year and will initially handle addresses ending in .com, .org, .net, .biz, and .info. The online master directory indexes more than 250 suffixes.

"You also get private registration, so your information isn't out there for people to send unsolicited e-mails," adds Gulabani.

eNom sells domain names to resellers for between $6.95 and $8.95 each year and GoDaddy sells for $7 to $7.75 per name, plus an annual fee and additional charges for hosting and security certificates, according to their respective Websites.

The new domain name registration features went live Thursday night to help customers search for and register domains as part of the suit, GAFYD, Google said.

Internet sites that register their domains through Google will be automatically set up to work with several other company products, including Gmail, Web-email and Talk instant-messaging services, an online calendar application, Web-page creation tools and a "start page" where customers' employees can access applications and content.

Google’s latest move is viewed by the analysts as one more step of its efforts to get entrepreneurs, organizations, and Internet hobbyists to explore Google's growing suite of free productivity software.

As per Gulabani’s estimates, approximately half of small businesses, having 100 or less employees, don't have domains.

The move is also seen as Google’s efforts to keep its rivals like Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Time Warner Inc.'s AOL from the field of services registering Web site addresses.