Afilias just announced that they have began accepting applications for premium .info domain names that were previously reserved.  The applicants should provide a web site strategy for the domain by submitting a ‘proposal’ with their application.  The application fee is $250 and that should cover proposals for multiple domains.   Application deadline is Dec. 22, 2009.  You can see download the applicant form here.

There are some excellent domain names for development that are available thru this reallocation process.  Below, I listed just a handful of top one word domains that were previously reserved.  Not included in this list are major U.S. city and International locations such as LosAngeles.info, Bangkok.info, NewYork.info, London.info, etc.

apartments.info
auction.info
autos.info
beauty.info
cancer.info
diet.info
doctors.info
games.info
golf.info
health.info
hotels.info
jobs.info
loan.info
maps.info
mortgage.info
retirement.info

There will almost certainly be mixed reactions by domainers on this move by Afilias.  To me it’s obvious that Afilias is trying to strengthen the .info brand before the gTLD rollout any way they can.  I think that the $250 fee is a is a good opportunity for developers to try and obtain a category killer .info via RFP application, especially if it is valid for more than one domain names.  It seems like a proactive idea to try and boost .info identity in some parts of the web.

So, who’s going after one or more premium .info domains via application process?