.how

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Status:	Delegated
Registry Provider:	Google
Type:	Generic
Category:	Education
Priority #:	364 - Google (Charleston Road Registry Inc.)

.how is a gTLD that was proposed in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The applicant and now Registry Operator is Google (Charleston Road Registry Inc.). The application succeeded and was delegated to the Root Zone on 16 August 2014.

Application Details

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

"The proposed gTLD will provide the marketplace with direct association to the term, ʺhow.ʺ The mission of this gTLD, .how, is to provide a dedicated domain space in which registrants can enact second-level domains that position content relating to ʺin what manner or wayʺ one executes a task, as in ʺhow to do ʹsomething.ʹʺ Charleston Road Registry believes that registrants will find value in associating with this gTLD, which could have a vast array of purposes for enterprises, small businesses, groups or individuals seeking to associate with the term ʺhow.ʺ Charleston Road Registry expects these uses may include but are not limited to applications such as talents (playpiano.how), sports (swim.how), health and fitness (weightloss.how), cooking (makedinner.how) or specialized advice (treatstain.how). The proposed gTLD mission will enhance consumer choice by providing new availability in the second-level domain space, creating new layers of organization on the Internet, and signaling the kind of content available in the domain.

Charleston Road Registry believes that given its wide variety of uses, the .how gTLD will best add value to the gTLD space by remaining totally open and unencumbered by registrant restrictions. There will, therefore, be no restrictions on second-level domain name registrations in the proposed gTLD, .how.

Charleston Road Registry will make access to Registry Services, including the shared registration system, available to all ICANN-accredited registrars. Domain names within the proposed gTLD will be available to the general public for registration and use."

Contract Signed

On 23 January 2014 Google received a Registry Agreement signed by ICANN for .how after passing all the required processes needed to become a Registry Operator for the string.

Delegation and Availability

.how was delegated to the Root Zone of the DNS on 16 August 2014, completing the successful application for the string.