.miami

Status:	Contract Signed
country:	USA
Registry Provider:	Minds + Machines
Type:	GeoTLD
PIC Submitted:	Download Here
More information:

.miami is new geographical TLD proposal submitted to ICANN by Top Level Domain Holdings, which was chosen by the City of Miami to handle its application and to provide the back-end registry solutions via its subsidiary, Minds + Machines.

Application Details

The following is excerpted from the applicant's response to question #18:

"OVERVIEW The overarching goal for the .MIAMI top-level domain is twofold: First, to give Miami residents, businesses, tourists and enthusiasts information and sources or other online resources regarding the geographic region including but not limited to employment, lifestyle and culture, education, media, sports and entertainment. Second, we hope to provide a centralized place for Internet users to search and attain information associated with Miami in a more effective an efficient manner.

MIAMI: HISTORICAL FACTS & STATISITICS The greater Miami metropolitan area is home to 5.5 million people, the largest urban center in the southeastern U.S., with incredible diversity and two major languages spoken. Miami’s residents are comparatively wealthy and largely connected to the Internet. All these factors in one urban area, identified by the name “Miami,” suggests that .MIAMI will be popular with residents.

Miami draws over 38 million tourists annually, who spend $17.1 billion each year. Since much travel planning is done on the web, this suggests that businesses that want to attract tourists will use the .MIAMI top-level domain.

Miami is a hub of the western hemisphere, known variously as the “Capital of Latin America,” “Cruise Capital of the World,” and “Cargo Gateway of the Americas.” Its airport handles more international passengers in the United States than any other except for New York’s JFK. It is home to many companies, and serves as the South American headquarters for many more. Miami is a world financial capital, and a major retail center. In 2010 Miami had the highest non-food retail sales of any city in the world. Miami has a Gross Metropolitan Product of $257 billion and is ranked 20th worldwide in GMP, and 11th in the United States.

People and businesses buy domain names because they want to “fly the flag,” to identify themselves with the domain name. Many south Florida residents who live near Miami routinely identify themselves as being from Miami to outsiders who are not familiar with the area. We believe that many Miamians live in the Miami area because they want to, love the city, and they want to be identified with it.

MISSION AND PURPOSE The .MIAMI top-level domain will serve Miami residents, businesses, and organizations, as well as tourists, visiting business people, and those who have ties to Miami. .MIAMI will be part of Miami’s brand on the Internet, and will give it a place among the global Internet cities in the world, joining Paris, Berlin, London, New York, Tokyo and other major metropolises. .MIAMI will mark web content as local to the Miami area and brand email addresses as coming from, or being related to Miami. ..

[Our] policies will effectively support the key mission, purposes and goals of the .MIAMI top-level domain, which is to allow registrants who want to associate themselves with, while at the same time protecting third-party rights and preventing abuse.

We specifically examined more restrictive registration policies, such as limiting registration to members of organizations with a specific tie to Miami. We rejected such limitations because they would interfere with .MIAMI’s primary mission, purpose and goals--which is to encourage as many registrants as possible to associate themselves with the Miami for any legal purpose. Factors that we took into account when considering a more restrictive registration policy included:

• Our recognition that registrants of a .MIAMI domain name will self-select because they have an interest in Miami, naturally reducing the number of potential registrants; and, because restrictive policies such as, for example, requiring membership in a specific organization or organizations, would exclude many legitimate registrants from obtaining a .MIAMI domain name. For example, and by way of illustration, if membership an organization were required for registration, businesses and charitable organizations that would find a .MIAMI top-level domain name an effective marketing tool would be excluded from registering a .MIAMI domain name as they might not be eligible to be members in an organization that accepted only natural persons for membership."

Contract Signed

On 19 December 2013 Top Level Domain Holdings received a Registry Agreement signed by ICANN for .miami after passing all the required processes needed to become a Registry Operator for the string.