Diller: Ask Jeeves Might Get New Name
According to this Marketwatch.com story, Barry Diller told attendees at the D3 — All Things Digital conference that he is condering a name change. Of course, this also assumes that the IAC/Ask Jeeves merger goes through.
Ask Jeeves has been doing some great during the past several years but for many people, who haven’t taken a look at what they’ve been up to, their name has negative connotations about what Jeeves was liked in the late 1990’s.
In other words, memories of bad search experiences does not help the company in trying to get people to take a look and hopefully use what they’re developing.
When Diller was asked what names he and his team are considering, he told the audience:
“Might be one of those words [Ask or Jeeves] without the other,” Diller answered, adding that the final decision on AskJeeves’ new name isn’t “finalized.”
Hmm. I’m far from a marketing expert but “Jeeves” by itself would be no better than what they have now.
Ask.com would seem to make sense. Instead of searching for an answer, one would “ask” for an answer. How polite.
Of course, they could also try to capitalize on their competitors names. How does Yaheeves or Jeevoogle sound. (-;
Postscript: If Barry Diller and crew want to turn Ask Jeeves into Jeeves.com they’re going to have to acquire the domain name (it’s not like that Mr. Diller doesn’t have the money or the lawyers) from someone in Minnesota.
The page that’s visible at Jeeves.com today has been online since 2003.
Btw, Jeeves.org is registered to a company in New York City and Jeeves.net to a person in Virginia.