The latest ICANN plan to allow the global populace to assemble an entire domain name like www.yourname.yourname as their free-choice is a revolutionary and timely decision. This now open doors to cyber-brands such as my.ibm, hotel.chicago, it.jobs, play.poker, fly.usa or go.dell and applicants will submit a non-refundable fee of US$100 - 500 000 for each name idea and the businesses are already jumping to get started.

A new study estimates that this new registration process would create US$33 billion in fees in the first three years. The prime beneficiaries will be ICANN, which operates as a not-for-profit organisation, but it still would have to deliver a highly structured, high speed service and meet global needs.

Real beneficiaries

Other big recipients will be the worldwide domain registrars and highly specialised experts and lawyers, while the cascading revenues will go to IT and web support organisations. The public at large will become the real beneficiaries as a billion new users will come online, millions of new interactive gateways will open and thousands of new global brands will emerge. This will make a global impact and bring a new face to the global e-commerce. The study also points out how in countries around the world, new national clubs of overnight billion-dollar domain name owners will emerge, all fueling the new global race.

In contrast, for over a decade, and after toying with nickel-and-dime registration fees and fighting over domain names, this mature approach will alter the domain name perceptions for the global business community, as by and large, domain names have been the most grossly overlooked aspect of a name identity assumed to be only to be handled by junior programmers and web designers.

The new registration process has built-in controls and gone will be the days when billion dollar businesses were on their hands and knees when some kid had their domain name squatted for a nickel and had the capability to pull the corporate strings. In those earlier days, at US$70 per domain name, up to a million names per day were being registered. The success was so huge that VeriSign ended up being sold for US$22 billion.

Original article : http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/16/26138.html