<HTML xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40" xmlns:v =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m =
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml"><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)">
<STYLE><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Wingdings;
panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph
{mso-style-priority:34;
margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:10.0pt;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
/* List Definitions */
@list l0
{mso-list-id:421537029;
mso-list-type:hybrid;
mso-list-template-ids:-660689048 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693;}
@list l0:level1
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l0:level2
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:o;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:"Courier New";}
@list l0:level3
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l0:level4
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l0:level5
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:o;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:"Courier New";}
@list l0:level6
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l0:level7
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l0:level8
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:o;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:"Courier New";}
@list l0:level9
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:Wingdings;}
ol
{margin-bottom:0in;}
ul
{margin-bottom:0in;}
--></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY lang=EN-US dir=ltr link=blue vLink=purple>
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000">
<DIV>Hi Fahd,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Thanks for your valuable input, stats and first hand experience !</DIV>
<DIV>It would be interesting to know how many out of the thousands of Arabic IDN
registrations have actually gone live ? And for non-government ?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Most locals got to a newspaper website, or some form of online news, in the
morning, and read it in Arabic. I can see them preferring to input something
like جريدة.الاردن (a hypothetical name, equivalent to newspaper.jordan) .
The reason its not happening is likely that the idea has not been marketed and
the locals are not aware that this option can exist, i.e. its more social and
political rather than technical. Once there is acceptance and demand for the
basic IDN concept then standards can come to solve email, online banking and
service issues.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Regards,</DIV>
<DIV>-Ahmed</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none; DISPLAY: inline">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt tahoma">
<DIV><FONT size=3 face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #f5f5f5">
<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=fahd.batayneh@icann.org
href="mailto:fahd.batayneh@icann.org">Fahd Batayneh</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Monday, October 28, 2013 12:14 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=ahmed@tamkien.com href="mailto:ahmed@tamkien.com">Ahmed
Abu-Abed</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Cc:</B> <A title=menog@menog.net
href="mailto:menog@menog.net">menog@menog.net</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> RE: [menog] New Arabic TLD and idea's
popularity</DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none; DISPLAY: inline">
<DIV class=WordSection1>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d">Hi
Ahmed,<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d">Yes,
ICANN delegated the first four TLDs (all 4 are IDNs with 1 Arabic, 1 Chinese,
and 2 Cyrillic) on October 23, and more is expected to be delegated in the
coming weeks. In terms of web browsers, all new browsers support IDN URLs in all
scripts. Some TLDs might face some problems with some web browsers, and these
can be solved on 1-to-1 basis. Even some of the new ASCII TLDs need to resolve
any pending issues with web browser developers (such as .sx and .ss). Overall,
all web browser vendors/developers are keeping an eye on the New gTLD program so
that they can update their whitelists accordingly.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d">From
my discussions with IDN ccTLDs in the region, I believe Egypt has the largest
IDN ccTLD base with more than 3,000 registrations. Saudi Arabia and UAE have
2,000+. Some of the stumbling blocks that keep IDN registrations low are the
following:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoListParagraph
style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: symbol; COLOR: #1f497d"><SPAN
style="mso-list: ignore">·<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN dir=ltr></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d">Strict
registrations policies by Registries; or<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoListParagraph
style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: symbol; COLOR: #1f497d"><SPAN
style="mso-list: ignore">·<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN dir=ltr></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d">High
pricing; or<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoListParagraph
style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: symbol; COLOR: #1f497d"><SPAN
style="mso-list: ignore">·<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN dir=ltr></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d">Preference
in communicating over ASCII TLDs (I have heard tones such as “What is the added
value in an IDN TLD?” or “The majority of my clients do not speak Arabic” or
“Arabic?! Really?!”); or<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoListParagraph
style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: symbol; COLOR: #1f497d"><SPAN
style="mso-list: ignore">·<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN dir=ltr></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d">Lack
of interest in IDNs since IDNs do not support global email exchange, SSL
certificates, and many other online services (this is what the most complained
of).<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d">You
mentioned some of the major portals such as Google and Yahoo!. Well, if they
have IDN registrations, they are mostly defensive registrations; i.e. to protect
their trademark(s) from being cyber-squatted and/or
infringed.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d">I
guess with the rollout of New gTLDs, much of the behavior we experience online
will change gradually, so let us see how will major brand owners react to this.
Furthermore, vendors such as Google (applicant of .google, amongst others) and
Microsoft (applicant of .microsoft, amongst others) are expected to move their
online presence to their own TLDs.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d">Finally,
it is worth mentioning that there are discussions within the ICANN community to
block registration of domain names that represent currently applied for TLDs
(e.g. applicant of the TLD .abc gets abc.whatever blocked from any future
registrations).<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d">Fahd<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d">(speaking
in my personal capacity)<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<DIV>
<DIV
style="BORDER-TOP: #b5c4df 1pt solid; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 3pt; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in">
<P class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'">From:</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'">
menog-bounces@lists.menog.org [mailto:menog-bounces@lists.menog.org] <B>On
Behalf Of </B>Ahmed Abu-Abed<BR><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, October 27, 2013 11:54
AM<BR><B>To:</B> 'menog@menog. net'<BR><B>Subject:</B> [menog] New Arabic TLD
and idea's popularity<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">ICANN is in the news
with the new </SPAN><SPAN lang=AR-SA style="COLOR: black"
dir=rtl>شبكة</SPAN><SPAN dir=ltr></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><SPAN
dir=ltr></SPAN> TLD, see <A
title=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24637673
href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24637673">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24637673</A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">I am yet to see Arabic
TLDs widely implemented, although most browsers are ready, even on iOS and
Android which I tested with an Arabic URL. Any idea on why is the delay in
implementing Arabic URL by content providers (newspapers, etc.) ? People in the
region prefer Arabic websites, so I am wondering what’s stopping content
providers from having Arabic URLs.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">Also, anyone know if
major portals, like Google or Yahoo, have implemented IDNs in any language for
their URL ? Something like </SPAN><SPAN lang=AR-SA style="COLOR: black"
dir=rtl>ياهو.شبكة</SPAN><SPAN dir=ltr></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><SPAN
dir=ltr></SPAN> (which translates to Yahoo.net , as I cannot find an
equivalent to .com as an Arabic TLD).<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">Best
Regards,<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">Ahmed
Abu-Abed</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>