ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, has voted to allow non-Latin domain names beginning in 2010. This is one of the biggest technical changes to happen on the Internet, and can have some major ramifications for your e-commerce website. Starting November 16, ICANN is launching a fast-track program to allow countries using non-Latin characters to request top-level domain names that reflect their country’s name. Once this process has begun, individual users will be able to take registrations as early as the first half of 2010. This development will help users, especially consumers who have been tentative about online shopping, to perhaps feel more secure about your website if they are able to use their local keyboards. With China’s huge growth in both Internet users and e-commerce, being able to have a Chinese-language website with a Chinese domain name could be invaluable to your web business. More information seems to be coming out about this every day, but here are some articles that might give you some more insight:

http://www.dynamicexport.com.au/news/icann-votes-for-international-domains00771/

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-11/16/content_8979647.htm

http://www.internetnews.com/infra/article.php/3846401

http://www.icann.org/en/topics/idn/