.ist this it? Yes! Today, May 10, 2016 is the day .ist AND .istanbul enter the GoLive phase.
Pre-orders in this phase are being submitted and now, you can get any .ist or .istanbul domain still available for just $23.33 per year at A rates for .ist and $29.07 per year for .istanbul.
Both of these extensions are for the great and ancient city of Istanbul, but are open to anyone.
This .ist (and .istanbul) what you’ve always wanted, .istn't it?
A lot of big cities eventually start to just get called “the city,” after awhile. In the Bay Area, the City is San Francisco (Oakland is still the Town), on the East Coast, it often means New York. And in Turkey, it means none other than Istanbul. But Istanbul is unique in that people have called it “The City” for so long now that it’s name literally means “The City,” in Greek (the original Golden Gate was also in Istanbul).
Of course, it was Constantinople and Byzantium before (but that’s nobody’s business but the Turks). It’s been the capital of empires and religions, and now it has its very own TLD. Well, two—.istanbul and .ist:—both of which are now available in the Landrush phase at Gandi.
During this phase, you can buy a .istanbul or a .ist domain for just $151.38 per year. Or you could wait until the GoLive phase starts on May 10, 2016 and get them for $23.33 per year (at A rates).
And .ist isn’t just great for lovers of Istanbul's iconic architecture, luxurious gardens and many bridges, but also to adherents of any kind of -ism (Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year in 2015).