.London ads spotted in London the prior week

Here are some ads for the .London domain name spotted in London during the ICANN conference.

I spent the prior week in London at the ICANN meeting.

This was interesting timing since the city is gearing up for the launch of .London, which ought to prove to be a strong fresh TLD.

The open nature of the domain gives it a wider buying audience than .nyc (assuming .nyc is tough on nexus). As a geo domain, it will get a lot of local press.

I think it’s possible that this domain could approach the 100,000 registrations mark in due time. If it fires on all cylinders.

.London also faces some headwinds. Nominet is now offering second level .uk domain names. People in London are by now familiar with .uk, and these shorter (and substantially cheaper) domain names will certainly compete against .London.

A lot of firms in London associate themselves more with England than just one city, too.

GoDaddy (see ad to right) is offering .London domains for $59.99. Minds + Machines, which is a backer of .London, is offering domains during the priority registration period for $50.