| Status: | Proposed |
| Language: | Arabic |
| Translates to: | transliteration of "COM" |
| Manager: | Verisign |
| Registry Provider: | Verisign |
| Type: | IDN |
| Category: | Commerce |
| Priority #: | 101 |
More information: 
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كوم.is one of 9 transliteration of .com that Verisign has applied for via ICANN's New gTLD Program. The company also applied for 3 transliterations of .net.[1]
This particular application was criticized during the comment period of the new gTLD program given that no such "COM" word exists in Arabic and so Verisign is essentially inventing an Arabic word. The objection states that Verisign should not be given the TLD without approval of the Arabic Language Academy.[2]
IDN Transliterations of .com & .net
Verisign's Pat Kane noted in January 2012 that the company was planning on applying for "about 12" new gTLDs, and noted that most of these were going to be IDN transliterations of .com.[3] Expected languages included Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Cyrillic, Arabic, and Hebrew.[4][5]
During its first quarter earnings report, on April 26, 2012, it was confirmed that Verisign would be applying for 14 new gTLDs, 12 of which are foreign language transliterations of .com and .net.
In the end, the languages chosen for transliterations are: Thai, Deva, Korean (Hang), Chinese (Hant/Traditional & Hans/Simplified), Hebrew, Russian, Arabic, Japanese. The two non-IDN applications by the company are for .comsec and .verisign.
Application
Excerpted from applicant response to question #18 in TLD application:
"As of this writing, more than 800,000 internationalized second-level domain names are registered in .com, including more than 40,000 in Arabic. The ARABIC_TRANSLITERATION_OF_.COM gTLD, along with the other proposed IDN transliterations of .com, provide an immediate benefit to registrants of those names by giving them the opportunity to register IDN second-level domain names as “IDN.IDN” domain names. That is, registrants can use their preferred script in both the second-level domain name and the
gTLD name. Doing so improves these domain names’ functionality and accessibility to speakers of non-Latin-based languages."
[..]
The initial target audience for ARABIC_TRANSLITERATION_OF_.COM is the registrants of the more than 40,000 Arabic IDN second-level addresses in .com. These registrants will have the opportunity to register their IDN.com addresses as IDN. ARABIC_TRANSLITERATION_OF_.COM addresses. "[6]
References
- ↑ Com Transliterated 8 languages
- ↑ CommentDetails, gTLDComment.ICANN.org
- ↑ 2011 Results Earnings Call Transcript, SeekingAlpha.com. Published 26 January 2012.
- ↑ Verisign Plans to Apply for About 12 New Top Level Domain Names, DomainNameWire.com. Published 26 January 2012.
- ↑ Verisign to Apply for a Dozen New gTLDs, DomainIncite.com. Published 27 January 2012.
- ↑ Application Download, gTLDresult.ICANN.orgRetrieved 17 Jan 2013