The regulatory body that oversees internet domain names voted today to revamp the domain naming system for websites, allowing them to end with words like "apple" and "orange" instead of suffixes such as ".com" or ".gov".

"Icann has opened the internet's naming system to unleash the global human imagination. Today's decision respects the rights of groups to create new top level domains in any language or script," the regulatory body said after a board meeting in Singapore.

"We hope this allows the domain name system to better serve all of mankind," Icann president and chief executive Rod Beckstrom said in a statement.

Icann, which stands for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, said it will accept applications for domains with new suffixes from January 12th next year.

Experts say corporations and cities should be among the first applicants to register for new generic top-level domain names (gTLDs), resulting in domain names ending in brands like ".toyota", ".apple", or place names like ".newyork".

Today, just 22 gTLDs exist, such as .lcom or .info, plus about 250 country-level domains like .uk or .cn. After the change, several hundred new gTLDs are expected to come into existence.

Reuters