David.....good to read ya, but if I don`t know WHEN, then HOW do I reg some? Cheers
IDN.com and IDN.net began registering in 2000', IDN.cn and IDN.jp etc started registering in about 2003. Most of the top tier IDNs have been long registered and held for almost a decade. A lot of domainers claimed these were worthless and to wait for "real" IDNs...
Verisign has now confirmed (what was pretty much known all along if you stayed up with GNSO, GAC, ICANN idn meetings) that the original idn.com and idn.net WILL BECOME idn.idn and idn.idn, and idn.cn and idn.jp etc etc will become idn.idn. Existing nameholders will be the only ones to be allowed to have the idn.idn version (probably for an extra fee of some sort.)
It is estimated there are only about 1 million IDNs registered, so still some good opportunities perhaps. The only high value IDNs still to sunrise and launch are the new Russian Federation idn.rf. You have to be a Russian citizen to get those at the get-go.