.acer

Status:	Proposed
Registry Provider:	Verisign
Type:	Brand TLD
More information:

.acer is a Brand TLD being proposed in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The applicant is Acer Incorporated.

Application Details

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

"The .acer gTLD will create a new generation gTLD serving the interests of end users by providing an authoritative Internet space where information, services and resources of the brand, its affiliates and partners that are associated with the brand will be closely controlled by Acer Incorporated (Acer). The majority of the anticipated domain name registrations in the .acer gTLD will be used in the promotion and communication of the Acer brand and its hardware, software and technology services. A further subset of domain names may potentially be created for communication and marketing purposes, with Internet users then assured of brand authenticity.

Established in 1976, Acer utilises a multi-brand approach by integrating its 4 brands – Acer, Gateway, Packard Bell and eMachines – to offer products with distinguished brand characteristics to target different customer needs in the global PC market. Through its global workforce of approximately 8,000 employees, Acer is devoted in breaking the barriers between people and technology through the creation of empowering hardware, software and services. Acer achieves this by designing easy-to-use and dependable IT products that improve usability and add value to its customers’ needs. According to Gartner Data 2011, Acer ranked top 2 for its notebook PCs shipments and top 4 for total PCs sold worldwide. Headquartered in Taiwan, Acer operates, through its 4 brands, across the Asia Pacific, US, European, Middle Eastern and African regions to cater to its worldwide customers. Acer’s revenues for 2011 reached USD15.7 billion. Having celebrated over 30 years of long-term growth in the IT industry, Acer believes that innovation is not the mere creation of new technologies and solutions, but the guarantee that users receive the benefits of these developments and feel empowered by them. In this regard, consumer trust and continuous innovation are paramount considerations in all of Acer’s activities.

Business activities are increasingly conducted over the Internet, allowing for greater levels of interaction between businesses and customers. As a result, both businesses and end users benefit from ease of interaction and a wider range of choices with lower transaction costs. However, developments in this area over recent years in the current domain name system has resulted in both businesses and consumers becoming increasingly exposed to the risk of criminal activities over the Internet, including data breaches, hacking and phishing. These sophisticated criminal activities result in losses in business as well as reputational damage for the domain name holders as Internet users increasingly lose consumer confidence and trust with businesses targeted by such criminal activities. The .acer gTLD is intended to facilitate greater trust and assurance from customers who seek to connect and do business with Acer over the Internet, whilst still allowing convenient and efficient interaction."