Canon to Acquire .canon Top Level Domain

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will soon be accepting applications for new generic top level domains (gTLD) to be created, potentially ushering in a new Internet land rush.

Currently, only a handful of gTLDs exist, including common ones such as .com, .net, .org, and less known ones such as .aero, .asia, and .travel. When ICANN opens up the application process, it may lead to an explosion in the number of gTLDs.

While many large corporations are presumably waiting to pounce on a gTLD for their business, Canon has decided to openly announce their intention of registering “.canon” in a press release. If everything goes according to plan, you might soon be seeing websites with domain names like “my.canon” or “buy.canon”.

Regardless of whether or not companies succeed in claiming their own gTLD, convincing the general public to use that gTLD might be much more trickly. Canon states,

With the adoption of the new gTLD system, which enables the direct utilization of the Canon brand, Canon hopes to globally integrate open communication policies that are intuitive and easier to remember compared with existing domain names such as “canon.com.” […] Following approval for the new gTLD system, which is expected to take place after the latter half of 2011, Canon will make full use of the new domain name to increase the convenience and effectiveness of its online communications.

I’m wondering whether Canon really believes .canon to be more intuitive and easier to remember than .com, which has become seemingly synonymous with the Internet. It might simply be an attempt to secure the name so no one else can steal it.

Do you think “canon.canon” is more intuitive than “canon.com”?


Thanks @eugenephoto, for the tip!

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