The evolution of an Internet phenomenon called the “wiki” is being hastened by a local partnership.
MindTouch Inc., a downtown San Diego company dealing in hardware, software and services, has gotten together with White Salmon, Wash.-based entrepreneur John Gotts to create Wiki.com.
Wiki has quickly become a techie buzzword, particularly due to Wikipedia.org, the online, open-access encyclopedia and the largest reference Web site on the Internet. Capitalizing on the increasing ubiquity of the wiki, Gotts plunked down $2.9 million to purchase the domain name Wiki.com.
“We had over 3,000 people visiting the site on the first day of operation without anyone knowing it existed,” said Steve Bjorg, the president and chief technology officer of MindTouch. The high traffic early on may bode well for Wiki.com’s ad-driven revenue stream.
However, if the deal goes stale, Gotts has an opportunity to back out of the investment. According to Wired News, Gotts will pay the business-naming firm Dynamo $10,000 a month for the first six months for the domain, with the option to buy at the end of those six months for a balloon payment of $2.8 million.
The technological foundation of Wiki.com is the wiki: “a Web site that can be quickly edited by its visitors with simple formatting rules,” according to Techweb.com. MindTouch , a separate legal entity from Wiki.com , is providing the wiki technology platform behind Wiki.com.
“It’s more broadly available to people because it’s easier to use and requires less technical skill,” Bjorg said.
“You can create your own Web site with a level of simplicity that hasn’t been available before.”
For example, an individual or group can create an image gallery and upload photos to the Web address Ourphotos.wiki.com, a memorable domain name with easy access. The site also offers “business wikis,” which can be used like a simple intranet network.
While the site has a lot of value tied to its easily recognized name, Barry Parr, an analyst with market research firm Jupiter Research, sees some problems with trying to build growth on the name.
“The first thing that occurred to me was that it’s been a long time since this much money has changed hands for such a generic domain,” said Parr.
“Experience has taught us that the successful domains have an identifiable brand and aren’t just a generic name.
“(Wiki.com) has value in that it’s easy to find, but the challenge is going to be building a brand on a generic name.”
MindTouch was founded in December 2004 and has 12 full-time employees. Six of the current MindTouch employees were formerly employed by Microsoft Corp. Bjorg spent five years at Microsoft.
Says Bjorg, “MindTouch’s business model is to provide wiki technology in every shape the market needs it.”
