Many of the world's most familiar names have pledged their allegiance to the new .tel domain-driven directory service, following its official launch earlier this month.
The so-called Sunrise period whereby legitimate trademark owners can register enjoyed a flurry of applications within hours of its opening, according to registry operator Telnic .
Practically as soon as the two-month Sunrise period opened, the likes of Apple, BP, British Airways, Gap, Google, Microsoft, Sony, Starbucks and Virgin among others had signed up.
"We're delighted to see applications from such a breadth of businesses and categories worldwide. Trademark owners have obviously got the message that .tel is a huge departure from .com-type domains that host web content and is instead an innovative platform for communications," said Khashayar Mahdavi, Telnic's chief executive, in a statement.
The Sunrise period will last until 2 February next year, after which other brand owners with unprotected trademark will be able to enter the ICANN-approved Universal Dispute Resolution Process (UDRP) to re-gain them.
