Marina del Rey, California… One week after the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) began accepting applications for new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs), the application system is said to be functioning without a hitch.

“I can state firmly that one week into the process, the application system for the new domain names is functioning just as it should,” said Rod Beckstrom, ICANN’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “This is a reflection of the careful planning, hard work and long hours our staff spent preparing for last week’s launch.”

At one minute past midnight (UTC) on Thursday, 12 January, ICANN began accepting applications for new generic Top-Level Domains, beginning one of the biggest changes in the Internet’s evolution.

The new program will greatly expand the current 22 Top-Level Domains (such as .com, .gov and .net) to include almost any word or name. It also allows, for the first time, non-Latin language scripts such as Arabic, Chinese and Cyrillic to be used in a gTLD.

“I couldn’t be more pleased,” said Michael Salazar, Director of the New gTLD program. “ICANN spent six years working to ensure it got this program right and we worked particularly hard to make certain the application portion of the program went smoothly.”

As of today, there are 25 successful registrants in the online TLD Application System. However, this number does not necessarily represent the total number of applications since each registrant can apply for up to 50 new generic Top-Level Domains.

The deadline to register in the TLD Application System is 29 March. If applicants are not registered in the system by that date, they will be unable to apply.

In early May, approximately two weeks after the new gTLD application window closes, ICANN will publish a list of the applications and who has applied for which domain name. Until then, ICANN will not comment publicly about any specific application, the total number of applications received, or who has submitted applications.

Initial processing of the applications is expected to be completed in mid-November 2012 and the first new generic Top-Level Domains are expected to be online sometime in early 2013.

If you’re thinking of applying for your own gTLD, be aware that, at a cost of $185,000 (£120,000) just to apply, obtaining one of the new names is a serious financial commitment!