New TLDs

gTLD Applicant Strategy: Clarifying Financial Questions (Part 1)

It is certainly proving to be a long and winding road for the 1923 gTLD applications submitted to ICANN. Glitches, delays and now a very high percentage of applications will very shortly be receiving clarifying (financial) questions on 26 November. Currently a very high percentage of applicants have not scored the required 8 points to pass financial evaluation. This is the next huge challenge for applicants. more

Contention for Three More gTLDs Resolved in Fourth Applicant Auction

The Fourth Applicant Auction has concluded, resolving contention for three more strings. Donuts Inc. came away from the auction as the winner of all three strings: .LIFE, .CHURCH, and .LOANS. Life Covenant Church, Inc. will be compensated for withdrawing their application for .CHURCH, and Radix will be compensated for their withdrawal from .LOANS, while Xiamen 35.com Technology Co.,Ltd and CompassRose will be compensated for their withdrawal from .LIFE. more

The [Dot]Brand Tribes - Part 2

Staggering! According to the annual Interbrand Top 100 Brands report for 2009 the top 10 global brands are worth $422,901 ($m). Good leadership, innovation, protection, reach and solid products have created lasting consumer relationships and new entanglements that drive that amazing number. In this post from my original series back in March 2010, we'll discuss the high level value a dot brand could create. more

TLDs, CJD and Other Mad Cows

"At every crossroad on the road that leads to the future, tradition has placed against us ten thousand men to guard the past". These were the words of Stanley Prusiner in 1992 describing the opposition to his radical discovery of what he called prions, the causative agents of a clutch of baffling brain diseases. These include kuru, affecting New Guinea cannibals, Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (CJD), and BSE or mad cow disease. And today these guardians of the past are in place again at the crossroad that leads to a future of thousands of top-level Internet domain names. more

What’s in a Name? The Power to Reach a Global Audience.

I've been asked a number of times recently which new gTLDs are working well. What's popular and where are some examples of them being used. Another question I have been hearing recently is what are some good examples of marketing activities that are working. We have seen a handful of examples of names with websites. Just enter site: favourite gtld in the search bar and you'll get a list of live sites for a given TLD... more

NCUC Workshop: One World, One Internet? New gTLDs & Competition in a Changing Global Environment

The Noncommercial Users Constituency (NCUC) has organized and is holding a policy workshop, One World, One Internet? New gTLDs & Competition in a Changing Global Environment, next week in Beijing at ICANN-46. The program, which brings together top Western and Chinese experts, will explore pressures for integration versus fragmentation of the Internet and implications for ICANN, as well as different competition and regulation perspectives as they relate to new gTLDs. more

Google Wins .APP New gTLD Auction for $25 Million

Michael Berkens reporting in TheDomains.com: "The new gTLD .APP sold for $25 Million to Google today in a ICANN Last Resort Auction which I think is very good news for the new gTLD program in general. This is the highest price paid in an ICANN Last Resort Auction. It looks like Google was willing to pay over $30 Million based on the info published by ICANN..." more

ICANN All Set for the gTLD “Reveal Day” in London

ICANN plans to announce the long-anticipated list of applied-for domain names under its new generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) program tomorrow. The announcement will be made in London at 12:00PM and streamed live on ICANN's website. ICANN has received over 1,900 applications from around the world. more

“Open” or “Closed” Generic TLDs: Let the Operators Decide

(The following is an edited version of comments I submitted to ICANN regarding "closed" generic TLDs.) On February 5th, ICANN solicited comments on whether ICANN should determine the circumstances under which a generic TLD operator is permitted to adopt "open" or "closed" registration policies. Allowing gTLD operators to make these determinations, as opposed to ICANN, will promote innovation on the Internet to the benefit of consumers. more

Akram Atallah Named Head of ICANN’s New Generic Domains Division

In a post today, ICANN's CEO, Fadi Chehadé, has announced the creation of a new division within ICANN, called Generic Domains Division, in order "to handle the tremendous increase in scale resulting from the New gTLD Program." Akram Atallah, who is currently the Chief Operating Officer (COO), will become divisional President of the Generic Domains Division that will include gTLD Operations, DNS Industry Engagement, and Online Community Services. more

Legal Threats Should Not Diminish ICANN’s Resolve

Guidebook for all interested parties. The best way to start this process would be to give conditional approval to the proposed final AGB next week. This may in fact involve acquiescing to the specific requests placed before it by litigious special interests, but those requests should be granted because they are reasonable and in the best interests of the program and its participants and stakeholders, not because ICANN feels it has to cave at the first sign of a gTLD opponent lawyering up. more

First gTLD Auction Settled; Next Auction Will Be on August 13th

We're pleased to announce that the first Applicant Auction has come to a successful finish! As of this morning, the winners are now the only remaining applicants for the six contested strings... The winning prices totalled $9.01 million, which we have distributed to the other applicants after confirming that their ICANN applications have been withdrawn. more

How I Think CIRA Should Evolve: Towards CIRA 2.0

There's been some good discussion here about possible policy changes which Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) could consider. But there's more to the CIRA Board election which is underway than simply arguing about whether a PO Box satisfies a "presence" requirement. CIRA's done pretty well over the past decade, but it's not perfect. As a candidate for re-election to the CIRA Board (and currently Vice-Chair) here are some of my own personal thoughts regarding ways in which CIRA might improve. I call this (unoriginally, I know) CIRA 2.0. more

Bloomberg: Pricing of New TLDs Seem “Kind of Random”, Sector in “Flux”

Bloomberg's Economic Editor, Peter Coy, suggests that the Top-Level Domain pricing seen in the market today appears to represent a big pricing experiment in a sector of the economy "that's in flux". more

Aussie Football Code Makes Habit of Brand Innovation with Its Branded TLD

The world's first sporting code to launch its own branded Top-Level Domain (TLD) has continued to flex its innovation muscle with a creative new endeavor. The Australian Football League (AFL) has added www.coffee.afl to its existing line-up of .afl sites. The dedicated website offers fans the chance to buy team branded coffee pods, with proceeds going to support their clubs. more