At its recent meeting in San Francisco, ICANN approved a new draft timeline for the launch of its new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) program that will let its Board of Directors approve the final Applicant Guidebook in June 2011, enabling companies to apply for gTLDs before the end of the year.

The first-ever .nxt conference recently concluded in San Francisco. The conference featured two days of productive, educational, and passionate discussion about the business of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs).

The introduction of new top-level domains (new TLDs) to the Internet moved a step closer Friday, when the ICANN Board laid out its plan for the final stages of approving the new gTLD program. In a lengthy resolution, passed unanimously at the conclusion of a week of consultations in Cartagena, Colombia, the Board sought to draw a line under some policies where it believes the community has reached agreement, while highlighting others where further discussions are needed before the doors are opened to applications next year.

Ten years ago today, November 16^th 2000, the ICANN Board voted to approve the first new top-level domains (new TLDs) to be added to the Internet root, ever.  Of the 47 applicants, only 44 were considered valid and paid the application fee. Ultimately seven were chosen that day, including .INFO.

If you search for the ICANN archives of the Board minutes of that day, interestingly the meeting minutes say:

A very real and potentially dangerous issue for brands is the continual reliance on obscure country code domains for URL shortening services. Recent reports have emerged that the country code domain .ly will no longer allow domains with 4 or less characters to be registered by users outside of Libya. What exactly does that mean for marketers that are using popular URL shorteners like bit.ly and ow.ly today? It means more risk.

On Saturday, you were probably enjoying a quiet morning, sipping your coffee as you consumed headlines about news from New York to New Delhi. The headlines related to Internet business were probably much different than what you would have seen 10 years ago.

New top-level domains will quickly be upon us, and if you are ramping up to get your application ready, part of your launch plan should address what you will do with valuable keyword or generic names – what we often refer to as “premium names.” Reserving premium domain names for either auctions or a Request for Proposal (RFP) process is a great way to publicize your new TLD, increase the domain community’s awareness, and achieve initial bursts of revenue to support your business.

Almost exactly nine years ago, the .INFO domain first started accepting registrations.  This was an historic event as it was the first time a new generic top-level domain (TLD) was launched to an existing domain marketplace and, in fact, was the first new TLD to be added since .com.  We’ve seen (and provided technology to power) many other TLD launches since then, with many business models.  As you seek to introduce your own new TLD however, you should carefully evaluate the different launch mode

The application period for the next round of new top-level domains moved one step closer to commencement after a productive and well-attended ICANN meeting in Brussels last week.

The board resolved on Friday to dedicate its two-day retreat in September entirely to working on the issues that remain outstanding in the Draft Applicant Guidebook. The current version of the DAG, the fourth, is expected to be the final draft before applications become open to potentially hundreds of prospective new TLD registry operators.

The .mobi domain was launched in 2006 to provide a dedicated name space for content made for mobile consumption.