ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), announced the plan to introduce new (.anything) generic top-level domains (gTLDs). ICANN is the internet body that oversees domain names. Currently, there are only 22 such as .com, .net, .org, .mil, .name, .pro, etc. From 12 January 2012, new website domain suffixes can be registered, which could include anything. Yes, you read it right, be it your company name, brand name, or anything.
With this announcement, Internet address names will be able to end with almost any word in any language, offering companies around the world to better market their product, brand, cause, or anything in a new way. This will better represent that particular brand/company.
Rod Beckstrom, President and Chief Executive Officer of ICANN said
ICANN has opened the Internet’s naming system to unleash the global human imagination. Today’s decision respects the rights of groups to create new Top Level Domains in any language or script. We hope this allows the domain name system to better serve all of mankind
This decision would surely bring dramatic change in Internet names. Individuals and organizations can apply for these custom top level domain names, however this is surely a long and expensive process, which not everyone would like. The application fee to register these new suffixes would be $185,000.
Ofcourse this is not cheap, and companies who buy these new domain names will also need to prove that the particular domain name belongs to them only. The company should have a legitimate claim over that name. Big MNC’s and corporations could be the first to register their brands, and the resulting domain names can be .coke, .apple, .google, .mcdonalds, .microsoft, etc.
So the applications for these new domain names will start from 12 January 2012 and it will last till 12 April 2012. So are you ready for the next generation of internet addresses. .Anything is here.
Check out the official announcement from ICANN.
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