Tinderbox has been appointed to develop a suite of Web sites for Keywords Global BV, licence holder of RealNames Country Registries in Southern Africa, Belgium, Australia and New Zealand, through local subsidiary Keywords SA.
Global naming services company, RealNames Corporation, initially entered the South African market through a local media company, Dotcom Trading, forming the newly named Keywords SA. The intellectual property and international media relationships have since been formatted for application and roll-out in Europe, Africa and Australasia.
This is an offering that will bring Keyword Web addresses to businesses and individuals within SA, the UK, Belgium, Ireland, France, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Turkey, Norway, Austria and Switzerland, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia, Congo, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, as well as in Australia and New Zealand.
The concept behind the RealNames system is that Keywords are easier to remember than lengthy URLs. Users will be able to type in a keyword without the usual www or .co.za and be taken to the appropriate Web site or Web page within a Web site. The program recognises any language that exists on a browser, with the ability to resolve any character sets built into the program for global use.
Like domain names, Keywords can be purchased from the Keywords SA Web site or through a Registry channel. Keywords will sell at $95 and will be renewable annually.
Danny Bogatie, director of COS, a subdivision of Keywords SA, says Tinderbox was appointed to develop the Web sites because of its reputation in the industry.
"In addition, Tinderbox in conjunction with its parent company, electronic payments experts Prism Holdings, are leaders in the provision of switching facilities," he adds.
The majority of Web users know exactly where they want to go. Despite this, many users still get `lost` on the Web, and with patience levels at an all time low, many just don`t make it to the right page. Research shows that 60% of consumers stop searching after their third click.
The success of Keywords is based on the fact that it saves the user time and enhances the user`s experience. If users want to go to Compaq`s wireless LAN for example, they would traditionally have to type the following into the Internet Explorer address bar: http://www.compaq.com/products/wireless/wlan/index.shtml. Clearly, a difficult URL for anyone to remember. Now all they need to type is Compaq Wireless LAN.
"With Keywords, the process of remembering a URL is eliminated: users simply type in the Keyword, which saves time and the frustration of searching," says Bogatie.
David Blyth, MD of Tinderbox, says: "The Keywords SA initiative will establish the Internet as a more accessible medium to users."
Development of the site, www.keywords.co.za (which can also be accessed by typing in the Keyword: Keywords SA) is nearing completion with phase one already rolled out, and phase two expected to be complete by end-July 2001.
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