As we reported in February, Affilias, who operates the .info Registry, asked ICANN for approval to sell one and two character .info domain names. ICANN approved this request at it’s board meeting last Thursday, 4/22/10.
Affilias plans to distribute the new one and two character domain names in a similar fashion to the one and two character .biz domain names offered by Neustar.
Their proposed plan allows for the release in three phases:
1. A Request for Proposal period, where anyone may submit a proposal “with specific plans for use and promotion” of a one or two character .info domain name.
2. An auction of domains not given during the Requests for Proposal period.
3. A first come, first served open registration for remaining domains.
Affilias has big expectations for the new domain names as Neustar’s one and two character sales were successful, particularly with e.biz and O.com, which were both high sellers. It’s been reported that most one character .biz domain names sold between $5,000-$15,000 and most two character domain names sold for under $1,000.