.nyc

Excerpt from the New York Post

Pretty soon, anyone can snag a hot city address.

The Big Apple is poised to get its very own Internet domain – .nyc – for individuals, businesses and government agencies who want a snazzy new option for their Web sites.

Council Speaker Christine Quinn, in her annual State of the City Speech yesterday, announced that work was being done to add the new Web address option next year.

“A local business won’t have to outbid a guy in Kansas to get TonysPizza.com. They’ll be able to get TonysPizza.nyc,” Quinn said.

The city would receive a third of any proceeds on domain names, which would cost about $10 a piece.

Mayor Bloomberg, whose approval would be needed, supports the idea, but will not change any city Web sites to incorporate the new domain, said spokesman Andrew Brent.

There are several cities throughout the world, including Paris, that also want to purchase their own domain name.

Anthony Van Couvering, CEO of a company called dotNYC, predicted roughly $3 million would flow into city coffers each year by the third year of the domain’s existence.

Excerpt from New York Metro

“Mark Twain famously advised, ‘Buy land, they’re not making it anymore,’” Quinn said in the speaker’s annual State of the City address. “Well now we can make more New York addresses — just on the Internet.”

She hopes to bring in new revenue by getting a city-only top-level domain: dot-NYC.

This summer the international body that governs Web addresses, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, will start approving applications from states and cities. An average “.nyc” address is expected to cost $10…

Excerpt from AM New York

A company called dotNYC wants to buy the domain name, spend millions marketing it and then turn over a third of its profits to the city. It is expected to produce about $3 million for the city after the third year and up to $10 million annually after that. The city would have to approve the company and would also get to use the domain name free.

“I walk around the city and I see whole lot of people with NY on the front of their heads on their baseball caps,” said Antony Van Couvering, the CEO of dotNYC. “People here love New York.”

Today is February 12, 2009. It’s been over 8 years since our efforts to start .NYC began in 2000. Our company, dotNYC, started in January 2008, is only the latest of our efforts to get New York City to finally recognizing the value of having its own top-level domain, .NYC.

Finally, today, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn held out .NYC as an example of the kind of public-private partnership that the city should pursue. The crowd, made up of elected politicians and dignitaries, literally chanted “Dot N – Y – C” at the end of her description of it. See our Press section for more details on Speaker Quinn’s speech and press reaction.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 12, 2009
Contact: Davidson Goldin (DolceGoldin)
646 386 9602 david@dolcegoldin.com

dotNYC Applauds City Council Leadership to Create .NYC Web Address
Speaker Quinn & Council Member Brewer Take Lead Roles Promoting
Initiative that Will Provide Millions of Dollars to Benefit New York City

The long-awaited .nyc web address is closer to becoming a reality, thanks in part to today’s action by City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and the long commitment of Council Member Gale Brewer.

Website names ending in .nyc – such as www.hotels.nyc, www.joeshardware.nyc, www.johndoe.nyc, www.parks.nyc (and millions more) – will allow New York City residents, businesses, organizations, government agencies and tourist attractions to identify directly with the world’s leading city.

Everyone is familiar with generic web addresses ending in .com .org .net .edu .gov. Other Top Level Domains include .biz .info .tv .mobi .travel. Now there are plans to introduce many new web addresses including .london .paris .boston .berlin .barcelona .rio and others based on geography.

These new web addresses will make the need for creating a domain name for New York City on the Internet a critical priority. The anticipated typical cost of a .nyc address (roughly $10) represents the cheapest real estate opportunity here since the Dutch bought Manhattan.

“The .nyc web address will generate significant funding to market New York City around the world, provide free web addresses for city government and keep New Yorkers competitive with global trends,” said Antony Van Couvering of Manhattan, CEO of dotNYC. “We’ve been working on creating .nyc for nearly a decade, and we’re thrilled Speaker Quinn and Council Member Brewer are taking leadership roles to ensure New Yorkers benefit from the future of the Internet.”

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) will this summer begin approving Top Level Domains named after cities and states. Until now, geographic-based domains were only named after countries or continents (such as .us .fr .uk .asia).

Leaders of the dotNYC team helped found ICANN and bring vast experience creating and running Top Level Domains, including .asia. They created the first public-private partnership to distribute a portion of domain profits to a Community Partner.

The dotNYC team has been working since the fall of 2008 with the Mayor’s Office and the City Council, and has also begun conversations with a potential Community Partner. If the .nyc domain is supported by the city and approved by ICANN, dotNYC will:

· Distribute a substantial portion of profits to the Community Partner for New York City’s benefit
· Provide all city agencies and departments with free .nyc web addresses
· Implement proven policies that protect trademarks and ensure .nyc addresses are used responsibly
· Devote the marketing resources and funding required to ensure demand and make .nyc successful
· Maintain NYC headquarters – creating jobs marketing, designing and programming .nyc web sites

ABOUT dotNYC:
The New York City-based business includes founding members of ICANN who continue to serve in leadership capacities, launched five successful Top Level Domains, advised dozens of others and created the model for public-private partnerships involving geographic-based web addresses.

DotNYC’s efforts to create the .nyc web address moved into full swing last year when ICANN for the first time implemented policies to encourage new domains based on city names. dotNYC founder William Semich is a founder of ICANN and helped design the initial processes and policies for creating new Top Level Domains in the 1990s. He remains active in .asia, which he helped found. He is a former senior staff member to the mayor of Boston and served as that city’s director of finance and deputy director of economic development. dotNYC CEO Antony Van Couvering brings deep experience creating Top Level Domains and was a major force in the creation of ICANN. He has started and run several businesses specializing in creating and operating domains.

Feb 12 – New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announces her support of .NYC during her annual State of the City speech, and holds .NYC up as a model for the kind of public-private partnership the City should be doing.

While we look to cut spending, we’ll keep our eyes open for any new sources of revenue. Here’s one that’s been right in front of us for years. Web sites end with dot com, dot org, dot this and dot that. Thanks to the leadership of Council Member Gale Brewer and Deputy Mayor Bob Lieber, New York City will soon have its own place on the web – with dot NYC. Mark Twain famously advised “Buy land, they’re not making it anymore.” Well now we can make more New York addresses – just on the internet! A local business won’t have to outbid a guy in Kansas to get Tony’s Pizza dot com. They’ll be able to get Tony’s Pizza dot NYC, a name associated with the greatest city – and home of the greatest pizza – in the world. Most importantly, we expect to generate millions of dollars a year through the sale of web addresses ending in dot NYC.

Here’s the full transcript (PDF) of Speaker Quinn’s speech.