The Internet's domain system will soon grow astronomically to include .lol, .apple and .golf, but those weren't the most sought-after prizes.
Thirteen applicants filed for .app, and 11 filed for .home and .inc, according to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the nonprofit organization that manages top-level domains -- the ".com" part of website addresses. ICANN announced the 1,930 proposals on Wednesday for the soon-to-be-expanded top-level domain system.
Right behind .home and .inc was .art with 10 applications. The domains .blog, .book, .shop and .llc drew nine each, and .design, .movie and .music each attracted eight applicants.
When ICANN receives more than one application for a top-level domain, the applicants can try to negotiate between themselves and come to an agreement -- one that will probably involve cash. Otherwise, the name goes to auction, which could set the winning bidder back millions, according to those following the process.
Some of the bidding wars are going to pit tech titans against one another. Archrivals Microsoft and Google both applied for .docs and .live.
But the biggest battle will be between Google and Amazon, which both want a whopping 20 of the same domains, including .book, .buy, .dev, .drive, .free, .game, .mail, .map, .movie, .music, .play, .search, .shop, .show, .spot, .store, .talk, .wow, .you, and .cloud. That last one is also being pursued by security giant Symantec.
Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) and Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) were among the largest applicants, with 102 and 76 names applied for, respectively. Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) applied for 11, Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) applied for six, and Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) applied for just one: .apple.
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