What Does Google’s gTLD Applications Say About The Company?

ICANN revealed the list of generic Top-Level Domains today and there was something interesting to be found in it. Aside from Top Level Domain Holdings Limited, Google was a definite contender for most...
What Does Google’s gTLD Applications Say About The Company?
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  • ICANN revealed the list of generic Top-Level Domains today and there was something interesting to be found in it. Aside from Top Level Domain Holdings Limited, Google was a definite contender for most gTLDs applied for. The search giant applied for over 101 new gTLDs and will probably get most of them. Can we gather anything about Google’s aspirations with these applications?

    Here’s the full list of domains that Google has applied for:

    ADS
    AND
    ANDROID
    APP
    ARE
    BABY
    BLOG
    BOO
    BOOK
    BUY
    CAL
    CAR
    CHANNEL
    CHROME
    CLOUD
    CORP
    CPA
    DAD
    DAY
    DCLK
    DDS
    DEV
    DIY
    DOCS
    DOG
    DOT
    DRIVE
    EARTH
    EAT
    ESQ
    EST
    FAMILY
    FILM
    FLY
    FOO
    FREE
    FUN
    FYI
    GAME
    GBIZ
    GLE
    GMAIL
    GMBH
    GOO
    GOOG
    GOOGLE
    GUGE
    HANGOUT
    HERE
    HOME
    HOW
    INC
    ING
    KID
    LIVE
    LLC
    LLP
    LOL
    LOVE
    MAIL
    MAP
    MBA
    MED
    MEME
    MOM
    MOTO
    MOV
    MOVIE
    MUSIC
    NEW
    NEXUS
    PAGE
    PET
    PHD
    PLAY
    PLUS
    PROD
    PROF
    RSVP
    SEARCH
    SHOP
    SHOW
    SITE
    SOY
    SPOT
    SRL
    STORE
    TALK
    TEAM
    TECH
    TOUR
    TUBE
    VIP
    WEB
    WOW
    YOU
    YOUTUBE
    ZIP
    みんな (Everyone)
    グーグル (Google)
    谷歌 (Google)

    The list is a little intimidating to be honest. It really does seem like Google has applied for just about everything that makes sense as well as a lot of things that make little to no sense. The obvious domains like .google and .gmail were guaranteed to show up. What’s up with the weird domains like .family, .mom and .baby? According to Google’s Chief Internet Evangelist, Vint Cerf, the strange domains were acquired because they have “interesting and creative potential.”

    Another oddity is that Google applied for these domains under a company named Charleston Road Registry. Every other big tech company from Microsoft to Apple filed for domains using the company’s name. Was there a reason Google wanted to be different aside from just being different? We’ve reached out to Google and will update this story when he hear back.

    For the time being though, it’s always fun to speculate on things that Google may be planning. It seems that Google may just be buying up domains to be prepared for anything. It’s a far cry from Apple who just applied for .apple and none of their products. Google applied for all of their major products and then some. Could these be future products in the pipeline at Google or are they just setting up domains just in case?

    It’s also interesting to point out that Google was the only one who applied for a lot of these domains. Whereas domains like .music and .movie had multiple applicants, there were some domains that came out of left field like .soy and .dog. The domains just seem too specific and direct to be just random placeholders.

    It will be interesting to see if any of these new domains pan out over the coming months and years once they go live. I personally can’t wait to see what Google does with .soy. I hope they get into the health food business.

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