Do businesses actually need new gTLDs?

As the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) prepares to allow businesses and organisations to apply for new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), questions are being asked as to whether the move will actually benefit applicants or whether it is simply a money-generating exercise on the part of Icann and the regional internet registries.

Icann will accept online applications for new gTLDs, which can be made up of any combination of letters and numbers, for 90 days between 12 January and 12 April 2012. This gives firms and organisations about four months to weigh up the pros and cons of registering more brand-specific suffixes.

But does, say, Apple really need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars creating the domain name www.ipad.apple for its tablet offering, when it already seems to be getting along quite nicely with www.apple. com/ipad? Admittedly the minimum application fee of $185,000 (£116,000) is not likely to put the likes of Apple off, but whether such a move would actually benefit its business is still very much open to debate.

Olof Nordling, director of services relations for Icann’s Brussels office, argues that the move is intended to promote a new level of innovation on the internet.

“The move opens the potential for new ideas and to improve a brand’s presence in the marketplace. There are also new opportunities for communities, cities and regions who would like a more prominent position on the internet,” he says.

Ben Crawford, chief executive of CentralNic, a registry that holds the rights to such gTLDs as uk.com and us.com, argues that Icann’s decision to open up the market will create opportunities for smaller registries and will also protect companies from paying over the odds for dot-com domains.

“Why are new gTLDs necessary for our industry? Because all the current gTLDs are essentially owned by three large registries based in America. Opening this up will give other registries an opportunity to break into the market and that is a good thing,” says Crawford.