Google launches domain services in the US to compete with GoDaddy

Google will now give competition to domain market leader GoDaddy, with the launch of a domain-name shop Google Domains. The service will provide users with a clean and simple management interface for new websites.The Register reported that Google has started testing the service today and will allow anyone in the US to register domain names under 80 or so top-level domains (TLDs) including .com, .org and .ventures. Domains will cost between $12 to $30 to register and $12 a year and there is an extra fee for restoring an expired domain.The report also stated that Google was the second largest applicant to register for generic TLDs or gTLDs, by paying $185,000 each for 101 different dot-things ranging from .ads to .zip and pretty much everything in between.With Google Domains, the company could surpass GoDaddy, as it has a lot more technical proficiency, including huge storage and bandwidth capabilities. It would be interesting to see what Google will do with this market power.There have been speculations that Google wants to offer domains from its own registry for free. The company could end up in the registrar market in a similar way as it did with Gmail.The Verge has noted that Google has also added full support for Blogger — another of its projects making it dead simple to link a new domain with your existing blog.GoDaddy, which had filed for IPO of up to $100 million last year, offers simple domain tools such as sub-domains, email and website forwarding. It can dictate terms to the registries whose domains it sells, even charging them for the privilege of appearing on its pages.