Google amends 4 new gTLD applications: .app, .blog, .cloud, and .search

Charleston Road Registry (Google) send a letter to ICANN announcing the amendment of 4 new gTLD applications. Google intends to operate a redirect service on the “dotless” .search domain (http://search/), the .app TLD will be restricted for use by relevant developer communities, registrations within the .blog and .cloud TLDs will be limited to those with blogs and cloud services adhering to a certain technical standard.

Here is the letter sent by Google to ICANN:

I write to update you on Charleston Road Registry’s plans to amend four of our  applications. As noted in Google’s public comment relating to the topic of closed generics dated 1 March 7, 2013, Charleston Road Registry is in the process of amending its applications for .app, .blog, .cloud, and .search. Today, we submitted two of those amendments, for .app and .search, through ICANN’s change request process. The change request forms, including redlines to the relevant sections of the applications, are attached to this correspondence. We are still involved in discussions with the relevant communities related to .blog and .cloud to develop technical standards relating to the operation of those top-­level domains (TLD), but expect to submit amendments to ICANN for those applications in the near future.

To further elaborate on our plans to amend these applications, I am including a brief summary of our revised plans for each of the four TLDs below:

● .search -­ Our goal for .search is to provide an easily-­identifiable namespace for firms that provide search functionality and to allow Internet users a unique and simple mechanism to access the search functionality of their choice. Google intends to operate a redirect service on the “dotless” .search domain (http://search/) that, combined with a simple technical standard will allow a consistent query interface across firms that provide search functionality, and will enable users to easily conduct searches with firms that provide the search functionality that they designate as their preference. The amendment for our .search application was recently submitted via ICANN’s change request process
and is attached to this letter.

● .app -­ We intend for .app to be a TLD dedicated to application developers. The term “app” is used in a variety of contexts, including mobile applications, browser-­based applications and even desktop applications. We intend for the .app TLD to be restricted for use by relevant developer communities, but to be inclusive of the full range of application development communities and not to restrict registration to developers on a particular platform. Our amendment for this TLD has been submitted through ICANN’s change request process and is attached to this letter.

● .blog -­ We have two principal goals for the .blog TLD. First, users navigating to domains within the TLD should reasonably expect to reach a blog when they access a .blog domain name. Second, it should be simple and easy for .blog registrants to associate their second-­level domain with their blog on the blogging platform of their choice. To this end, we are working with others in the blogging community to develop a simple set of technical standards that will allow users to automatically link their domain name to their blog at the time of registration. Registrations within the TLD will be limited to those with blogs adhering to these technical standard. We expect to submit an amendment to our application for .blog by the end of the month.

● .cloud -­ As with .blog, our goal for .cloud is to create a clear association between .cloud names and projects hosted in cloud platforms, while simultaneously allowing registrants to more easily link domain names with the cloud offering of their choice. We are in the earlier stages of discussions with others in the cloud community, but intend to develop similar technical standards as with .blog. We expect to submit an amendment to our application for .cloud in the near future.

We believe that each of these TLDs offers a powerful and innovative experience for Internet users and domain registrants, in several cases unlike those currently offered by any TLD operator or proposed by other applicants. We are excited to continue to participate in the new gTLD program and work with those throughout the community to continue to improve our gTLD offerings.