If only to prevent someone from creating a site with the name dontshopat.amazon, fuck.amazon, betterthan.amazon, etc.

It could be a defensive thing.

They would have been able to object to ICANN when the other application for .amazon was put in.

Could also be a security issue. Creating one of those sites would surely help nefarious actors create amazon related scam sites. If amazon controls the TLD then only amazon can create .amazon sites.

They still don't need exclusive rights to the TLD. I doubt Brazil or one of the other eight countries was planning to create such domains.

I think the defensive aspect is underestimated.

I know from personal experience that carving out a clear online domain name is a lot harder with the expansion of tlds.

Also, I expect phishing sites will have an ever easier time registering convincing domains. So we're going to end up relying on browser blacklisting... not exactly an improvement for security.

Did anyone needed this? I don't think so. In my country we have a cctld for tourism and most companies don't care neither do clients.

Does anyone need the custom TLDs?

Only ICANN really needs them, because money.

Disposable email services seem to find them useful.

Well, Amazon asked for it to begin with, and the involved South American nations filed to have it blocked. It doesn't seem at all like bullying for Amazon to continue to make their case instead of just abandoning it. Much like the .aws TLD, this provides some level of protection against phishing attacks and makes obvious when a page is an authentic Amazon page.

Other than a countermeasure against phishing, perhaps.

Does Google really need .google?

They don't, but why not get it if it's available?

I find these new TLDs to be abhorrent, but if they exist, why not own one if you can?

With toll free numbers every land grab makes sense to the buyer, but no one else can take .google and existence of this and other brand TLDs will suck for their product experiences.

Google isn’t the English name of a huge rainforest.

fatal flaw not naming your global conglomerate after a physical location. why not just incorporate a small territory in the pacific, dub it "google republic" and then go for .google?