Today I got an email from Yahoo!

Why not get a domain for your business, hobby, family, or anything else that interests you? For only $4.98* per year, for a limited time only, you’ll get your domain name as well as:

* 24×7 toll-free support – Get help if you have questions.
* Bonus starter web page – Establish your web presence in minutes.
* Domain forwarding – Send traffic from your other sites easily.

Your domain name is out there.
Go get it.

Register your domain name with Yahoo! Domains now for a one or two-year registration period, and pay just $4.98 per year. Unless you have previously cancelled the service, at the conclusion of your initial registration period, 15 days prior to the anniversary of your billing date, and each year thereafter, your Yahoo! Domains registration will automatically renew for an additional year at the then-current standard rate. All Yahoo! Domains accounts are paid in advance, so while you may cancel your account at any time, your domain registration will remain active until the conclusion of the registration period you selected. Other terms and restrictions apply; see the Yahoo! Domains Service Agreement for details.

*Valid through 11:59 PM PST December 31, 2004

Why is Yahoo trying to get into domain name business? Isn’t the dotcom boom over? How many people register domain names these days?

Yesterday I was reading an article on slashdot about the volume of domain names and was surprised. Acc. to the article

VeriSign announced that 5.1 million new domains were registered in the third quarter of 2004, and that there are now 66.3 million active domain names, both the highest numbers ever. It also said that the percentage of domains registered to live Web sites has increased and country code top-level domains are becoming more widely accepted.

which means about 20 million domain names an year (assuming the domain name registration rate to be same). If the domain name selling companies make $1.00 per domain name then its straight 20 million dollars an year. But am sure that they make much more than a dollar.

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