This August will be unlike any other.
You probably read this headline and scratched your head. Isn’t all of Europe out of the office? Isn’t this the month that everyone is on the beach and no one is buying domain names?
That’s true, but this August is different. It will be an incredibly busy month for the domain industry.
Top level domain name applications are due on August 12. That’s also the deadline for anyone who wants to apply to be a backend registry provider.
Right now, companies are scurrying around, making final decisions for their primary and secondary strings, and putting the finishing touches on their applications.
ICANN won’t reveal who applied for what until October, but that’s not to stop anyone from announcing what they applied for. (Feel free to reach out if you want me to cover your applications after August 12.)
We know that some of the bigger applicants will be Identity Digital and Nova Registry. Short Dot is also potentially in that mix.
But I have a lot of open questions.
Will GoDaddy Registry apply this round?
Will XYZ apply, or will Daniel Negari wait to acquire domains later when their applicants look for an exit?
What other registrars and domain companies will surprise us with applications?
Is it a safe assumption that Amazon will sit this round out after dragging its feet on TLD launches?
What will Google do?
How many .brands will we see?
Will anyone apply for IDNs this time?
Will Verisign decide to apply?
The list goes on and on. This means not only will August be busy, but there will be lots to write about this fall.
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