.guitars
| Status: | Active |
| Type: | Generic |
| Category: | Lifestyle |
| Priority #: | 1040 - Uniregistry, Corp. |
.guitars is an active gTLD that was proposed in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The Registry and manager of the TLD is Uniregistry.[1] The proposed application succeeded and was delegated to the Root Zone on 18 January 2014.[2]
Application Details
The following is excerpted from the applicant's response to question #18:
"Guitars are an emotional extension of the people who play them. Guitars provide some of the most cherished sounds of our lives. Guitars and similar stringed instruments were among the earliest instruments developed, with different cultures creating a wide range of guitars and playing styles.
The guitar is one of the most played instruments in the world, and Uniregistry intends to create a new online space for guitarists, merchants, manufacturers, and enthusiasts with .GUITARS. .GUITARS will offer an Internet space in which to locate guitars, guitar players, and guitar reviews.
New top-level domains represent the future of naming for Internet-based resources. For a significant number of registrants and users, .GUITARS is the most meaningful and accurate description of the content of the works a registrant might provide, or a user might seek, online.
DNS-based addressing brings with it unique advantages for branding Internet-based resources with semantic meaning and easily communicable and remembered labels. Domain Names are mnemonic devices, designed to help users remember and invoke the ʺlocationʺ of web sites, email servers, and the like (as opposed to having to remember IP addresses). The addition of many new, semantically meaningful, TLDs will enhance this mnemonic function, helping users to discover pertinent resources, differentiate among stored links, and remember how to reach sites they have visited before.
Top-level domains with specific semantic meaning, like .GUITARS, will thrive when operated by a neutral registry-services provider like Uniregistry. A neutral registry does not provide preferential registration opportunities to any particular market participant, create anti-competitive rules that prevent domain name registration by competitors, or become so deeply involved in the target market that its presence as the registry services provider creates the appearance of impropriety or bias. Uniregistry always will act as a neutral services provider for .GUITARS.
A specialized top-level domain string, like .GUITARS, immediately conveys the purpose for which the user is seeking to access a site. Registrants who might get lost in a larger, undifferentiated TLD, and who seek to convey the specific purpose of the site or services, or who are unable to find a satisfactory SLD within existing TLDs, will find it easier to reach potential users.
.GUITARS will be a specialty gTLD, with a flat pricing structure and fixed renewal costs, with no material price increases for the first five years. This moderately priced namespace is designed to offer registrants an attractive, competitive registration alternative or complement to existing registrations for the purpose of specialized content."[3]
Contract Signed
On 14 November 2013, Uniregistry received a Registry Agreement signed by ICANN for .guitars after passing all the required processes needed to become a Registry Operator for the string.[4]
Delegation and Availability
.guitars was delegated to the Root Zone of the DNS on January 18, 2014, completing the successful application for the string.[2]
References
- ↑ Reveal Day 13 June 2012 – New gTLD Applied-For Strings
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 New gTLDs Top 100, DomainIncite Retrieved 21 Jan 2014
- ↑ Application Download, gTLDresult.ICANN.org Retrieved 22 Feb 2013
- ↑ Registry Agreements, ICANN.org Retrieved 20 Nov 2013