By Doug Isenberg Although far from a rush, the number of gTLD applications being withdrawn is growing. Three months after the first four applications were withdrawn, the list has now grown to 13. The newest additions (or rather, perhaps, subtractions) are:
- .ansons
- .caremore
- .chatr
- .cialis
- .glean
- .gmbh
- .hilton
- .skolkovo
- .swiss
Because applicants are not required to provide a reason for withdrawing, it's impossible to know what motivated these decisions. Still, there are a few interesting insights available. For example:
- This list includes the first "dot brands" to withdraw, including .caremore, .cialis and .hilton. In its application for .cialis, Eli Lilly had confessed that it "does not believe that there has been enough time or information available to fully analyze and evaluate all potential use case options."
- The withdrawn .swiss application was one of two for the same string and had received an "early warning" notice from ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), which said that the Swiss Confederation (the other .swiss applicant) "will build upon existing relationships to set up an effective and transparent governance process for the gTLD '.swiss'."
- The withdrawn application for .gmbh (German for "company with limited liability") was one of six for the same string, an obviously contentious field.
