Canon announces plans to acquire .Canon top level domain.

Canon wants to become the first company to acquire an Internet top-level domain after its name.

The company will apply to ICANN to get its hands on the .canon TLD.

The company said today that it “has made the official decision to begin necessary procedures to acquire ‘dot-canon’ upon the introduction of the new system.”

Until today’s announcement by Canon, no large brand had revealed plans to apply for their own new top-level domain. Now with Canon’s announcement, we can expect to see this more.

The system for approving new TLDs is still under development so at best we’ll see applications open in the fourth quarter, though further delays are always possible.

The cost of preparing and submitting an application is expected to be at least $500,000, with recurring annual fees in the tens of thousands. Don’t expect .TNW any time soon. :)

In Canon’s case, the company has decided that the marketing benefits of their own top-level domain outweigh the costs.