Domain names are about to change. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approved yesterday the use of non-Latin characters from start to finish in a domain name. ICANN fast tracked the process, which starts Nov 16, 2009, which will allow territories and nations to apply for internet extensions reflecting their name AND made up of characters from their national language.
“The coming introduction of non-Latin characters represents the biggest technical change to the Internet since it was created four decades ago. Right now Internet address endings are limited to Latin characters – A to Z. But the Fast Track Process is the first step in bringing the 100,000 characters of the languages of the world online for domain names.”
-Peter Dengate Thrush, ICANN chairman
They also made a video about it which you can see below.
Why is this important?
- Latin characters include 26 letters from A-Z. The Fast Track adds another 100,000 characters to the mix.
- Domain Name Registrars that will sell this new international domain can expect a HUGE influx of business.
- Companies that maintain a Domain Portfolio should expect to add a large number of domains.
- Marketers that do business internationally should seriously consider researching international domains.
[...] web will be dominated but Chinese content. (new ICANN ruling become very [...]