Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Could there be .city newgTLD Applications from Africa?

The new gTLD applications open tomorrow, Thursday at 00.01 UTC and many cities or organizations applying on behalf of cities have already indicated their intention to turn their names into virtual real estates. There will be a .paris(dotParis) for Paris , .berlin(dotBerlin) for Berlin, .nyc(botNYC) for New York, .istanbul(dotIstanbul) for Istanbul, .london(dotLondon) plus more.

I wonder how many African cities or organizations applying on their behalf will be submitting applications to ICANN for a .africancity new gTLD. As far as I know, the entire newgTLD debate on the continent has revolved around .africa which is rather sad as people are walking away from other viable TLD oppotunities to focus on just one newTLD!

Cities like Nairobi, Cairo, Cape Town, Lagos, Abuja, Dakar, Addis could apply for new gTLDs; am not sure if there will be a big market at this time but there's good potential for a domain market in the future.Besides the cities could freely use the gTLD to brand their services such as green.nairobi taxes.nairobi schools.nairobi museums.nairobi art.nairobi tours.cape travel.cape ski.cape and so on while they wait for the market to come of age.

.city applications for new gTLD do not qualify for ICANN Applicant Support, so the cities will have to fork out the full $185,000...and justify it to the residents. Especially if the sewers are still open and there are long queues in the clinics.

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