Image: Blaise Alleyne/Flickr (Creative Commons)
ICANN released their list of who has applied to have their own top-level domain, owning something similar to how .com, .net and .org work. 41 of the over 1500 new applications come from Australia – some of them their brands, some of them for the more ‘generic’ domain names. But who are the companies willing to spend $25,000 a year to maintain their own top-level domain?
Corporations
Some of the big names have registered for their own names and brands.
For the banks: ANZ, AMP, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are all listed as applicants to register their company’s names. Of course, they all want to register their names (Commonwealth Bank registered for both .cba and .commbank), but NAB has also registered a domain for its other bank UBANK and Commonwealth Bank has registered one for NetBank. Interesting that Westpac has not added their name to the list.
iSelect has decided to register for three – its name .iselect, but also for .compare and .select. I take issue with the .compare domain since it seems generic for comparison services. It appears in its public submission that it won’t open it up and only use it for marketing campaigns, and not open it up to other services from other people.
Others include: CPA, iiNet, GlobalX, Seven West Media (.seven), SBS, SEEK, WebJet, Woodside Petroleum, the AFL and Australia Post (.auspost). Telstra has also added its name to the list, only registering .yellowpages.
The Universities
Universities have also been quick to apply for their own gTLDs. Monash University has applied for .monash, La Trobe University has applied for .latrobe, RMIT University has applied for .rmit and Bond University applied for .bond. And all four have pretty much said that they’re going to be restricted around the brand.
Open Universities Australia, however, has applied for two really generic domain names – .study and .COURSES. They seem pretty generic, however it appears that no one else has applied for it. In its public submission, Open Universities Australia has said while .study will be predominantly used for “in the promotion and communication of OUA’s open online studies”, it says that it could open it up to allow students to have their own space and to allow potential regulation of education services online.
Melbourne vs. Sydney
Both the Victorian and New South Wales governments have applied for a gTLD for their capital city. Basically, both are using this to strengthen the brand “Sydney” and “Melbourne” online – and pretty much the applications are around the same. Both say that each person, community group, local and state governments, and businesses in the city and the state of which the city resides in – so you can have springvale.melbourne or newtown.sydney.
While .MELBOURNE have not made a projection about how many domains they expect to be registered, .SYDNEY claims that “by the end of year three [the number of domains] is projected to be 36,122 domain names.”
The Generic
Australian companies are competing for some of the more generic names out there – including for .best, .book, .film, .movie, .physio, .salon and .tennis.
Tennis Australia has applied for the .tennis domain name, only to us it to represent only Tennis Australia and its activities – not for Wimbledon, French Open or worldwide tennis, just Australian tennis. It is competing with three other companies, including a dot Tennis company. Because of its restrictive nature, it will probably get rejected by ICANN.
The Aesthetics Practitioners Advisory Network have applied for .salon, saying that domain name will be used to enhance the salon industry’s visibility and to have individual salons to have their name as opposed to some weird abstract connection. It will be salon specific. One problem: it’s competing with two US companies (one produces software for salons); and L’Oreal.
Then you have those who are registering .book, .film and .movie – three domain names that are also wanted by Google/Charleston Road Registry (we’re assuming it is Google since they are applying for .gmail and .youtube). AusRegistry, via several different companies, appears to be leading the charge for the domain names (we can tell because a simple Google search of the address reveals its AusRegistry’s home). Get ready for some heated competition.
For .physio, .best and .ceo – these domain names have not been registered any other companies. Obviously, you can tell what .ceo and .physio are for, but .best? Well, according to its registration form, “The .best TLD will help individuals discover and build brand loyalty for the most influential brands, industries, locations and people.”
And you’ll never guess who is behind the .best domain – and in fact for the .ceo and .kred domain names. The people over at PeopleBrowsr.
For Cancer Research?
An interesting application has popped up for the domain name .cancerresearch – and it was done by the Australian Cancer Research Foundation. Why? Well, it wants to strength the awareness of cancer and cancer research in Australia. It will, for obvious reasons, be restricted to be only be used by them and those affiliated by the foundation.
According to their public filing:
In applying for the .cancerresearch TLD, the ACRF will be able to promote its services and interact with the public through a dedicated, targeted and authentic forum, thereby directly benefiting the wider research community.
As a philanthropic organisation that is dependent on the support from its donors and supporters and that provides direct benefits to its chosen cancer research centres, this TLD will serve to complement existing methods of communication between the organisation, the public and stakeholders, by creating authoritative channel for online communication.
The strategic importance embodying the ACRF’s vision stems from its ultimate goal to create an authoritative sphere, dedicated solely to provision of cutting edge information, awareness and fundraising services dedicated to its communities and finding cures and best treatments for cancers. As such, the operation of the .cancerresearch TLD as the authoritative online space for promoting ACRF’s mission and vision is within the ambit of ACRF’s existing functions.