What Does the .CO Launch Mean for New gTLDs?

The .CO top-level domain made over $10 million in just a couple of months. What do the results of the .CO re-launch mean for new gTLDs?

Remember, .CO is the country-code TLD for Colombia. Until this summer, you could only register names under .com.co, .net.co, etc. You couldn't register myname.co. Now anyone in the world can register a .co name, and register it directly under the top level. Remember also that as a country-code TLD, .CO was not constrained by ICANN rules, which means that they were able to (re-) launch their TLD relatively quickly. Even so, their rules and regulations closely hewed to the latest ICANN rules, especially in regard to cybersquatting.

The response to the .CO launch was tremendous. Let's review:

• 11,000 names applied for during the Sunrise Period
• 28,000 names sold during the Landrush Period (closed July 15, 2010)
• Total paid by applicants for Sunrise and Landrush names: over $10 million
• Total .co nam
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