ICANN Web regulators voted on June 26th to allow the creation of thousands of new domain names, from .bag to .coke, in one of the biggest shake-ups in Internet history.

Customized TLDs

This will radically change the way users navigate the Internet and also has major implications for businesses and consumers worldwide:

  • Companies worldwide will be forced into registring a wavelot of new domains to secure their grounds. It’s not affordable for anyone – costs of $100,000 to $500,000 to land one of these babies may be enough to avoid Cybersquatting of TLDs. Nevertheless I have some concerns about sharky entrepreneurs might trick people into rapidly registered domains like apple.laptop, google.query or crumpler.bags
  • People today are afraid of not being able to remember domain names in the future. But, actually, I guess this will not be a permanent problem. When the system establishes, it will be as common to enter a domain name like tate.london or becks.beer.
  • Finally, additional characters will be allowed in the TLDs also. How will I be able to enter a TLD like viktualienmarkt.münchen, if I do not use a german keyboard? Even worse, how to enter TLDs or domain names in chinese writings?

Still, I appreciate the approach. All concerns will be channelled or diluted by the common marketing rules in the next years, as always. Do not fear the Zeitgeist.