Google is now offering a new service that may prove to be very useful and convenient to people who want to own a domain name but the plethora of complex options offered by these domain registration companies just turns them away.Currently, buying a domain name on sites like GoDaddy.com is equivalent to buying a Burger from McDonalds. You'll always face the same question - "would you want fries with that ?"
In case of domains, the companies tempt you to buy extra email / private registrations / yearly renewals, etc. A non-techie person can easily be confused with these options and may end up paying $100 for something which we could have otherwise purchased for $9.99.
Enter Google, they have made the whole process of web domain registrations as simple as the layout of their search homepage. And yes, French Fries are automatically included with the order at no extra cost.
Just visit google.com/a, type in a domain that you wish to purchase and Google will charge you a flat $10 for reserving that name for an year.
The deal may be worth every penny because of the following two reasons:
1. You get email (2 GB, 200 aliases), IM, calendar, web page creator - all powered by Google products.
2. You domain is registered as private meaning your contact information won't be available on the whois public database. Other companies charge upto $8 for this feature alone.
Google supports the following top-level domains: .com, .net, .org, .biz, and .info. You can pay via Google Checkout ( indirectly - your international credit card)
Just a quick note - Google doesn't register or host domain names. This will be done either by GoDaddy.com or eNom.com, Google will just facilitate the entire web domain registration process.
While there are tons of places where you can get cheaper domain names, the trust factor associated with the "Google" brand plus the convenience of a one-stop shop will make them a winner definitely.
Sources: Google Press Release | Costin Manolache | google.com/a