Well if you have been in the internet business for at least a year or so you would have realized how much importance a domain name is given. And you would have also realized the what kind of importance is given to a .com vs a .in and .net or .org etc. Most big internet companies book all the extensions of their domain names including the .mobi extention which is for sites that can be viewed on the mobile.

 

Now the domain name game which makes millions for some in the domain squatting and selling business could get even more complex in the days to come as the Internet domain extensions are set to get more creative with even a .blog or a .money being allowed by ICANN. For all those who dont know Top-level domain names till date were restricted by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) which is an international not-for-profit body that oversees the structure of the Internet. ICANN board which had a week long meeting last week in paris has now expressed interest in opening up the domain name and Paul Twomey its president and CEO has now given the go-ahead for total freedom on domain name and the final version is expected to be published in early-2009.

So domains like .blog and .money or even ones like .sex and .cars could be a reality soon. Though the announcement has been made to open up domain name extentions there are still details like fees for obtaining new names which have to be worked out. News has it that this fees is expected to exceed $100,000 apiece to help ICANN cover up to $20 million in costs that it will have to incur from its end to open up the domain extentions market. The huge application fees ensures that freeloaders and smaller players are out of the equation but big brands can still book their own domain. Think .tata or .birla for instance.

Most existing brands and domain owners think this will only make them spend more money to protect their trademarks and markets. For example a apple.sydney might have to be booked and there will be many such city centric domain names too which could crop up.

All in all this announcement from ICANN should be a reason to cheer and be happy as it does give creative options to those who have lost the top level domain names in .com and .in.

Source: AP

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