The New gTLD Revolution
2008–2015
Significance
The new gTLD program shattered the monopoly of the original TLDs and created a genuinely competitive market for domain extensions. It demonstrated that meaningful, descriptive TLDs could attract registrations and that the namespace had near-infinite capacity to grow.
Key Events
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يونيو 26, 2008
ICANN Decision
ICANN Approves New gTLD Program
At its Paris meeting on June 26, 2008, ICANN's Board of Directors voted to approve the New gTLD Program, enabling any qualified entity to apply for and operate its own …
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يناير 1, 2012
Milestone
.io Gains Tech Startup Popularity
By 2012, .io — the British Indian Ocean Territory ccTLD — had become the de facto second-choice TLD for technology startups unable to secure their preferred .com. The extension's association …
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يناير 12, 2012
ICANN Decision
New gTLD Applications Window Opens
ICANN opened the application window for new generic top-level domains on January 12, 2012. Applicants paid a non-refundable fee of $185,000 USD per string and had until April 12, 2012 …
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سبتمبر 1, 2012
Controversy
Amazon's .amazon Application Disputed by Brazil and Peru
Amazon.com's application to operate the .amazon TLD triggered a formal objection from Brazil and Peru, who argued that 'Amazon' referred to the geographically and culturally significant Amazon River and rainforest …
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أكتوبر 23, 2013
TLD Launch
First New gTLDs Delegated to Root Zone
ICANN delegated the first batch of new generic top-level domains to the DNS root zone in October 2013, with .شبكة (the Arabic word for 'web') and .游戏 (Chinese for 'game') …
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يناير 1, 2014
Milestone
Donuts Inc. Becomes Largest New gTLD Registry Operator
Donuts Inc., founded by domain industry veterans, emerged as the single largest operator of new generic top-level domains by 2014, having applied for over 300 strings and successfully delegated extensions …
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يونيو 2, 2014
TLD Launch
.xyz Launches, Becomes Most Registered New gTLD
XYZ.com launched .xyz on June 2, 2014, offering an alternative to the crowded .com namespace at competitive prices. The extension gained massive visibility when Alphabet (Google's parent company) registered abc.xyz …
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ديسمبر 1, 2014
Milestone
.wang Reaches 1 Million Registrations in China
The new gTLD .wang (Chinese for 'king' or 'net') reached one million registrations in December 2014, becoming one of the fastest new gTLDs to cross that milestone and demonstrating the …
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إبريل 1, 2015
ICANN Decision
Universal Acceptance Initiative Launched by ICANN
ICANN launched the Universal Acceptance Steering Group in 2015 to address a critical infrastructure problem exposed by the new gTLD program: many software systems, email validators, and web applications were …
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مايو 8, 2015
Acquisition/Merger
Google Wins .app Auction for $25 Million
Google won the contention resolution auction for the .app string on May 8, 2015, paying $25 million — the highest price ever paid at an ICANN new gTLD contention auction. …
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أغسطس 1, 2015
Milestone
1,000th New gTLD Delegated
ICANN delegated its 1,000th new generic top-level domain in August 2015, a milestone that underscored the unprecedented scale of the new gTLD program. Within two years of the first delegations, …