ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, has been working towards releasing potentially thousands upon thousands of new domains (web addresses), giving businesses the opportunity to have their own .suffix such as .music or even .cars. Previous releases of these types of web addresses have have has mixed results – notable successes have been .biz and .net but others such as .tv have been not so great. It seems the public still finds comfort in the traditional .com (even though there is a perception that .com relates to American sites) or .co.uk, but can fresh examples bring new impetus to business and can their costs be returned?

While some of the new domains are expected to be specific to a company (.cocacola perhaps?), others are likely to be more generic and available for other businesses.

From media reports it seems that the new domains are going to be pricey and would indicate that only large firms could afford these and not small business. The cost has been quoted at $185,000 so the target markets are obvious. That said major firms are expected to take advantage of these to future proof themselves. Smaller businesses may not see any return as an established business may be recognisable under their existing domain name.  With running costs such as business insurance, shop insurance or liability insurance to consider, purchasing a new domain name will need to be examined thoroughly.