New York City has announced it’s looking for a firm to help the city apply for and operate the .nyc domain.  New York is the first major city in the U.S. to apply for a new .geo TLD.  It’s most likely that the ‘Big Apple’ will win it’s bid for the .nyc name space.  There will be plenty of opportunity to for the city to earn revenue by selling registrations.  Already, former Mayor Ed Koch who has endorsed .nyc speculates the registration cost will be about $10 per .nyc domain name.

After reading thru the Connecting.nyc Inc wiki (one of  the groups lobbying to get the city’s business to operate .nyc) their guidelines helped answer some general questions about how the future of this extension may be run.  Here are a few facts about the Connecting.nyc campaign:

> Unlike ‘open’ gTLDs .nyc will agree upon a criteria for parties eligible to register .nyc domain name.  One may qualify for a .nyc TLD they can prove residence or an established presence in the city (see .nyc stakeholders).

> There will be a ‘sunrise period’ for .nyc domain names.  This will enable trademark holders to secure their .nyc domain(s)

> Several types of domains will be set aside for either allocation or auction
1) Names Reserved for Future Use ie. 2011.nyc, 2012.nyc, etc..
2) Names Held in Trust ie. police.nyc, fire.nyc, 911.nyc
3) Geo .nyc Domains ie. brooklyn.nyc, manhattan.nyc, astoria.nyc
4) Premium Domains for Auction ie. pets.nyc, poker.nyc, cash.nyc

> Deciding upon registrars that will facilitate .nyc registrations, currently undecided

So, is New York City buzzing over the likelihood of being on the verge of obtaining the .NYC name space?  In an article by New York Post writer, Jennifer Fermino she asserts that .nyc is “..the 21st-century equivalent of the 212 area code.”

My predictions are not quite as grandiose.  I believe there will be a fairly large .nyc landrush when the extension is released to the public just based on the population of the city.  .Nyc will be embraced and New Yorkers will be proud to be the first city with it’s own official .geo domain in the United States.  After a year or so when initial appeal fades a bit, there will be those few that successfully branded their company using .nyc, and they will contiue to utilize .nyc for their benefit for a long time uless the extension does not last.  A year after the landrush loads of .nyc domains will drop.  Looking around the New York City in three years .com will still be the mainstay on billboards from the Bronx all the way to Brooklyn.  Citizens that start blogs or launch businesses wont find it necessary to own and maintain a .nyc site as part of their business.  There’s just something about .GEO new TLDs that I find unnecessary.  Well, guess I better get a hold some friends in NYC and have them ready to register some .nyc domain names for me next year.