Two questions about ICANN's new gTLD?

[brian1234]

Hi,

I know about ICANN's new gTLD (.anything) program,
and the $180,000+ fee for acquiring such identities,
and with regard to that i'd like to know your opinions
about:

1. What format will these names most likely take, in a
user's URL bar?

(i.e. http://.anything, or http://www.anything)

2. What does ICANN's new gTLD program mean for the
100 or so www.xx names (e.g. www.tv) in existence?

Regards,

 

[katherine]

1. It's just another extension so the format is always the same ie: http://example.tld, http://www.example.tld.
Maybe you were thinking of RealNames

2. I think the established extensions will not be affected, only the struggling ones. And even that will be to a limited extent. So a far new extensions have been released slowly and one by one. But now we can expect a sudden flood of new extensions that will vie for a share of a small pie... But there is very little consumer demand imo... That's the problem, Icann's plan is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

The ccTLDs will continue to soar. I mean those that have a mature, developed market.
.tv is a different case, it has no local market. It's a niche extension.
But I don't see which new gTLD would possibly replace it or compete against it. Not .media or .television. It's been there for a long time and imo it will remain like it is.
Note that the new gTLDs will have to be at least 3 characters long. 2 characters only for ccTLDs.

 

[brian1234]

Note that the new gTLDs will have to be at least 3 characters long. 2 characters only for ccTLDs.

Hey thanks for that great reply Katherine.

So, the new gTLDs have to be at least 3 chars... That will mean
that although www.xx names are unaffected by the introduction
of the gTLD's, some of the 'halo effect', that may be conferred
upon the new TLD's, could be passed along to www.xx's.

In saying 'format', I was just wondering how users would type
the new domains in to their browsers, and to a lesser extent,
how they would be marketed or used. Of course, you're right;
there are two 'avenues' that allow a name to be input

Cheers,

p.s. I wonder if RealNames are still operating?!