.eu IDNs launch

Today is a big day for Europeans with the availability of .eu IDNs. Interestingly, so far most of the names registered are German.

Here is a list of the first ten IDNs registered. All of them are in German and contain umlauts.

1. ärzte.eu (doctors)
2. börse.eu (stock exchange)
3. flüge.eu (flights)
4. bücher.eu (books)
5. ferienhäuser.eu (vacation homes)
6. reisebüro.eu (travel agency)
7. büro.eu (office)
8. küche.eu (kitchen)
9. müller.eu (miller, also a last name)
10. öl.eu (oil)

A lot of the premium names have already been picked up and will be auctioned in the comings weeks.

It will be interesting to see how IDNS stack up against identical names without special characters. Misspellings like ol.eu (öl) and fluge.eu (flüge) have been registered for years. I think speakers of languages that use non-Latin characters have gotten used to altering their spelling for the web, after all.

Ukraine submits application for Cyrillic .ukr domain

Yesterday, The Ukrainian Network Information Center (UNIC) announced that it had submitted the necessary paperwork to ICANN for the creation of the a .ukr Cyrillic IDN. The extension is expected to be available for registration by February or March 2010.

Once the extension goes live, Ukrainians will be able to access the web in their native language. No information on registration costs has been released, but the UNIC better keep it cheap if the average citizen is expected to register the IDN.

It will also be interesting to see whether or not foreign corporations and individuals will be able to register a .ukr. Doing so could result in the most valuable names being swept up by foreign speculators, but at the same time, would allow international firms doing business in the country to reach more Ukrainians.

Source | Kyiv Post
Photo | Casiel

.Asia to be IDN-ready by 2010

DotAsia has announced that it will be ready to accept IDN registrations on the .asia TLD in the second half of 2010. Because of the diverse nature of Asia’s languages and the wide variety of characters each uses, .asia will benefit immensely from IDN technology.

Edmon Chung, CEO of DotAsia, stated:

Asia is one of the most important regions for IDN. Asia is already the largest Internet marketplace with over 700 million users online. However, that represents only 18.5% penetration. IDN will bring the Internet to the rest of the people in Asia who do not speak English.

The IDN launch will include a sunrise period to ensure trademark holders can get register their domains before cybersquatters. DotAsia says it will be the first TLD registry to apply with ICANN for the use of IDNs.

Photo | clix

Russia to apply for.рф IDN

Russian President Dimitry Medvedev has announced that Russia will apply for the .рф Cyrillic IDN as soon as ICANN begins accepting proposals for the new extensions on November 16.

According to Medvedev, registration for the IDN will be available at the end of the month, though trademark holders and government entities will get first grabs “so that we do not end up later having to buy kremlin.рф or something of the sort from people with no connection to the Kremlin.”

Medvedev has suggested using .рф to set up an email system for citizens and government. In a country as large as Russia, this could make communication much easier. Right now such a system is not feasible because most Russians don’t know English and thus would have trouble typing a Latin-based domain.

Photo | Flickr

Arab countries eager for IDNs

ICANN just recently announced its plans to fast-track IDNs, but the organization estimates that so far only 50 countries are interested. Of these, nearly one fifth are Arab-speaking nations.

Nine out of twenty-two Arab countries have expressed interest in Arabic domains: the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.

Saudia Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are especially eager to adopt IDNs. In addition, the UAE is expected to apply for the ccTLD .emarat to complement its .ae extension.

IDNs will not only bring more Middle East users online, but also increase the quantity and availability of Arabic content.

Source | Vybes.com

Preregistration for .eu IDNs now open

Those itching to get their hands on a non-Latin character domain will be happy to know that .eu registrars are now accepting preorders for IDNs.

The names cost the same as a normal .eu and are available on a first come, first serve basis. IDN registration will go live on December 10.

There will be no sunrise period for the new names, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea for trademark holders to preregister. Considering the diverse nature of Europe and its many languages, .eu is fulfilling its role as Europe’s TLD. It’s great that the registry stepped up to the plate so early.

Singapore to introduce Chinese IDNs

The Singapore Network Information Centre (SGNIC), operator of the .sg ccTLD, has announced the availability of Chinese-character domains starting November 23.

Unfortunately, only government applications for the new names will be accepted at that time. The .sg registry will use the following schedule for IDN adoption:

• Phase 1: Government Applications 23 Nov 2009 – 31 Dec 2009
• Phase 2: Trademark Owner Applications 7 Jan 2010 – 18 Feb 2010
• Sunrise Period: 25 Mar 2010 – 6 May 2010
• General Launch: 10 June 2010 onwards.

Singapore adopted IDNs to increase registration numbers and also aid firms conducting business with China. They will be available at any level of the .sg extension, including .sg, .com.sg, .org.sg, .net.sg, .edu.sg, .gov.sg, and .per.sg.

It is important to note that Chinese is only one of Singapore’s four official languages. The other three are English, Malay, and Tamil. It will be interesting to see whether or not the 4.9-million strong nation adopts Malay and Tamil IDNs as well.

Google CEO: Internet will be dominated by China

The introduction of IDNs will certainly increase the number of Chinese Internet users, but Google CEO Eric Schmidt has a much more optimistic view of web adoption in the Asian country. According to him, cyberspace will be dominated by Chinese content within 5 years.

Though Western nations have had more than a decade to populate the Internet with content, China’s population of 1.3 billion gives it an unparalleled advantage in this area. Increasingly inexpensive computers along with Chinese-character URLs will cause exponential growth in China web usage.

What does this mean for us? Besides a crowded Internet, expect more sites to become available in Chinese soon.

Source | IDN Blog

Acceptance of IDN applications to begin next month

ICANN has just announced that starting November 16, nations will be able to start applying for IDNs. This comes after a promise from the agency to speed up the creation of an IDN system.

Rod Beckstrom, CEO of ICANN, stated:

This is only the first step, but it is an incredibly big one and an historic move toward the internationalization of the Internet . The first countries that participate will not only be providing valuable information of the operation of IDNs in the domain name system, they are also going to help to bring the first of billions more people online—people who never use Roman characters in their daily lives.

It is important to note that several extensions already support non-Latin characters, most notably Bulgaria’s .bg. It began supporting Cyrillic characters in September.

ICANN announces delay of gTLDs, expediates IDNs

For more than a month now rumors have been rampant that ICANN’s new gTLD program would be delayed. Today, the agency made the news official, stating that the new extension approval policy will be delayed beyond Q2 2010. ICANN cited controversy and varying opinions about gTLDs as the main reasons for the push back.

Not be solely a bearer of bad news, ICANN also announced that it will be moving full steam ahead to introduce internationalized domain names. Better known as IDNs, these non-Latin character domains will make accessing the Internet easier for billions around the world.

As far as I’m concerned, ICANN is doing the right thing here. Instead of worrying about monetary interests with its gTLD program, the organization is working on getting the IDN system going. Granted, there’s no reason why this couldn’t have been done a decade ago, but hey, whoever said ICANN was Speedy Gonzales?

Photo | Flickr