Land rush for .asia draws to a close

The launch of the .asia domain has been staggered over several stages

The DotAsia Organisation received 473,633 domain registration applications during the three-week land rush period.

Concerns were raised when the land rush period opened in February that only around 30,000 applications had been made. However, including sunrise and .asia pioneer domains, the number of applications now totals 505,838.

The launch of the .asia domain has been staggered over several stages to help avoid the problems experienced during the launch of the .eu domain.

Initially only government bodies and companies with registered trademarks were allowed to register.

This was followed by companies which had already secured registered trademarks allowing them to apply for additional domain names related specifically to their line of business, as well as registered companies with an official presence in Asia.

Lastly, the land rush period opened registrations to any interested parties, but in a very controlled manner, and domains with multiple applicants were auctioned off.

The .asia registry will go live on 26 March, when domain names will be available on a standard first come first served basis.

"The results exceeded our expectations, and we are very pleased with the enthusiastic demand for the .asia domain," said Edmon Chung, chief executive at DotAsia.

"This is a testament to the global interest in the thriving Asian internet marketplace, and the investment appeal for the most prestigious cyber real-estate in Asia.

"It will be interesting to see which of the domain names fetches the highest prices in the auction. I believe we could be in for some surprises."

A total of 45,697 domains received more than one application in the land rush period and will go to auction.

Out of those with multiple claimants, 'buy.asia' was the most sought after with over 400 applicants fighting for the name. Others in the top five include 'hot.asia', 'gold.asia', 'fun.asia' and 'girl.asia'.

A further 1,051 domain names received more than one application during the initial sunrise period. Of these 'sex.asia' received the most interest, with 14 prior-right claims filed.

These are currently under auction and a live ticker and the latest auction results can be found on the .asia registry website.