With a $185,000 application fee this tends to really kill small businesses and conditions the public to favor ecommerce with the giants, not to mention a nice revenue boost for ICANN.
Would love to hear the dirt on backroom conversations that led to this decision...
Hopefully there will be enough public outcry to reverse it... but I'm not optimistic.
Looking at the array of other fees: Registry Services Review Fee - $50,000 Dispute Resolution Filing Fee - $1000 - $5000 per party per filing Community Priority Evaluation Fee - $10,000 It looks like this is a great opportunity for ICANN to staff up and boost salaries all around! I wish there were some other aspect of real estate where I could do something like this. Maybe my town could make a killing by deciding to name streets after famous brands for a low-low fee of only $185,000 plus annual fees ... per street. Maybe McDonalds and Burger King would bid up the price of the name of the main drag where they both have an outlet. Or maybe Sears would fight with Penney's over the name of the entrance road to the mall. Hmmm. The internet is pretty cool because "vital real estate" can be created out of thin air and it can apparently cost a fortune.