What’s the .Deal with the ICANN ‘Reveal Day’ and the New Domain Names?

By Mikal E. Belicove|For Entrepreneur.com|June 14, 2012

There’s a lot of hoopla over the release of a list of businesses that have applied for new Web suffixes, replacing the mundane “.com,” “.org,” “.gov” and 19 other generics. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) went ahead and labeled yesterday “Reveal Day.” It might be tempting to get in on the action.

A total of 1,930 new generic top-level domain names have been received in what could be an enormous expansion of the ICANN online domain name system. Everyone, it seems, wants to climb on board, claiming dominion over everything to the east of the dot in a URL.

The list of contenders for these extenders includes Google, Apple and Amazon, along with retailing giants Wal-Mart, Staples and Macy’s, and blue-chippers American Express and General Motors. The list shows that Google has applied for more than 100 domains, including “.google,” “.youtube,” “.book,” “.ads,” and “.app.”

Amazon snatched up “.amazon” and 75 others, while Apple went for “.apple,” but not “.mac.” One registrar, Donuts Inc., which recently…

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