CircleID

With the application launch period scheduled to begin in less than three months, everyone wants to know just how many new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) applications will be submitted.

In terms of the number of applications to be submitted, I've seen estimates putting the figure as low as 500. But just last week, an industry insider told me that he thought the number could go as high as 3,500.

Yes, yes — we've all seen these sites which list the extensions where interest has been expressed. But I have to wonder, will we really see applications for all of these TLDs? Or maybe applicants, who we've not yet heard from, will come out of the woodwork in hopes of becoming the next .com, or at least the next .co.

Based on conversations, some of us think the number could be as high as 2,000 and others, myself included, think it may be closer to 1,000-1,500.

Regardless of whether the number is 500 or 3,500, companies should be prepared to 1) review the list of applications when they are posted to the ICANN website next year on May 1, and 2) potentially submit comments or file objections.

May 1 will definitely be a day of truth when all will be revealed and I, for one, am looking forward to seeing what that magic number will really be.

By Elisa Cooper, Director of Product Marketing at MarkMonitor. Elisa Cooper also contributes to the MarkMonitor weblog located here.

Related topics: DNS, Domain Names, ICANN, Top-Level Domains