ICANN Lists New Web Suffixes

ICANN Lists New Web Suffixes

Boring internet suffixes may soon become a thing of the past. ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has unveiled a complete list of generic Top-Level Domain names applied by a multitude of organizations recently. Approximately 1,930 applications to run new Internet suffixes were received by the private organization. The majority of the applicants stemmed from US-based organizations with 884 requests. Next came Europe with 675 applications, Asia-Pacific with 303, followed by 40 from the UK, and 17 from Africa. Not surprisingly, '.app' was the most popular suffix with 13 bids, which makes perfect sense given the proliferation of mobile applications in recent times. Following which, eleven applications were received for '.home' and '.inc', and ten for '.art'. 

Google also made its fair share of interesting applications as well, with a total of 101 requests. Among them are '.lol', '.gogole', and '.youtube' among others. According to Telegraph's report, Amazon is vying with Google in various instances, including the '.app' domain name. ICANN also received many applications from companies interested in branding their own names on the world wide web, like Canon for instance, who applied for the '.canon' suffix.  Sustaining one, however, requires a substantial amount of financial muscle. For example, each applicant needs to fork up US$185,000 to partake in the arbitration process, while maintaining these domains will cost a minimum of US$250,000 a year. Community-based applications will be given priority though, instead of businesses.

"The internet is about to change forever – now a powerful change is coming", said Rod Beckstrom, ICANN's outgoing Chief Executive who'll be replaced by Fadi Chehade come July 2012. The first assortment of new domain names will go live in early 2013.

Source: The Telegraph and ICANN