EU Internet began processing .eu domain name applications on behalf of businesses from 10am today, Tuesday, February 6th. Within one hour over 71,235 .eu domain names were applied for. Applications made on behalf of Irish businesses account for 713 (1%) of total applications.

The majority of applications submitted during the first hour, were sent by applicants originating from:

Germany 16,592

The Netherlands 13,418

UK 5,248

France 4,931

Belgium 4,841

Sweden 4,567

The first three applications sent in today were:

webdienst.eu

dax.eu

videoclips.eu

The top 4 most requested domain names during the first hour of Sunrise 2 were:

sex.eu with 23 applications

schumacher.eu with 15 applications

realestate.eu with 12 applications

business.eu with 12 applications

From now until April 7th only certain rights holders such as registered businesses and limited companies will have their applications validated. Other applications which will be considered during phase 2 include family names, trade names, unregistered trademarks, distinctive titles of protected literary and artistic works and unregistered trademarks. From April 7th 2006 it will be possible for anyone within the European Union to apply for any available domain name.