Google loves the idea of new domain
names, including .Love, so much that they recently spent $18.7 million dollars
applying for a slew of new and creative combos to follow the dot in its numerous
internet addresses. Companies are scrambling to apply for catchy domain names
that complement their businesses, help with branding, or describe their
location- Johnson & Johnson applied for .Baby, Microsoft applied for .Doc, New
York City’s government applied for .NYC, and Amazon applied for .Smile. Not surprisingly,
the domain name in highest demand was .App.
The Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers “Icann” is tasked with reviewing these applications
and doling out the new names. “Icann set the application fee high, at $185,000
a name, to try to discourage frivolous bids; still, more than 200 terms are
being sought by more than one bidder. Icann decides who gets ownership of the
contested top-level domains.” As part of the evaluation, it will also consider
conflicts. For example, it will not allow a company other than Amazon to apply
for .Amazon.
It is hard to believe that we are running
out of .Com capacity, and now with the advent of these branded domain names,
will the .Com become a sign of an antiquated website? Or will people even
notice, since the majority of us use search engines to find a website? I think that while many of us won’t know a
company’s full internet address, it will be refreshing to see something a bit
more expressive than .Com on a business card.
-Danielle Cervelli
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