If you have a website you must be aware of what Domain names are. Domain name is a string followed by a TLD(top level domain) like .com, .in, .org etc which is used providing a name to an IP address of any server which hosts a website.
The domain names are provided by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers(ICANN) which releases domain names through various domain registrars like name.com, godaddy.com etc.
Whenever a new gTLD(general top level domain) is to be released, its done in several phases to allow reputed popular companies to reserve their trademarked names, then allowing companies in general to buy domain names and in the end making the new domain names available for the general public.
Following are the 3 phases of a new TLDs launch:
Sunrise Period
Landrush Period
General Availability
Sunrise Period
This is the first phase of a new TLDs release where trademarked name strings are given a chance to reserve their name with the new TLD through registrars. If I were to give example, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Twitter etc and many other reputed trademarked names running web based products are informed and allowed to buy respective domain names. During this phase the price for any domain name is generally the highest.
Landrush Period
Once the trademarked names have been provided an opportunity to buy, companies are then allowed to buy new name strings if they want to for non-trademarked name strings. During this phase too the price of the domain names is towards the higher side.
General Availability
Once the initial two phases are over. Domain name registrars are allowed to register domain names for a specific price and the registrars are free to offer any price on their websites. With every purchase they have to pay the ICANN certain amount for every domain name string.
So these are the 3 phases of a new domain name coming into the market. These days many new TLDs are making news for their descriptive nature and usefulness like .auto, .shop, .school etc.
