Recent Posts
- ICANN’s number two Cyrus Namazi quits. Probably due to sexual discrimination claims.
- ICANN grants Verisign its price increases, of course
- ALL .za domains have to link to government coronavirus web site
- Namecheap and others banning coronavirus domains
- Go here to help fight against coronavirus abuse
- As it releases free download, DomainTools says 68,000 dangerous coronavirus domains have been registered
- No .com price increases this year. Thanks, coronavirus!
- US officials gunning for coronavirus domains
- Nominet to intercept dangerous coronavirus domains
- An open question to the domain name industry about coronavirus
- US senators tell ICANN to reject .org deal
- More ICANN events cancelled for May
- More domain industry response to coronavirus
- .org decision delayed another month
- Delay .org deal because of… coronavirus? Gimme a break
- Not every coronavirus domain registrant is a douchebag
- Roundup: domain industry starts to respond to coronavirus pandemic
- At ICANN 67, nobody knew you’re a dog
- GoDaddy cancels in-person investor day over coronavirus fears
- WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE! In other news, ICANN 67 was… “muted”
- Facebook WILL sue more registrars for cybersquatting
- ICANN chair: “all options open” on .org deal
- Could .org debate bring back the glory days of ICANN public forums?
- The latest industry C-suite musical chairs
- Poblete to replace Disspain on ICANN board
- Chinese registrars ask ICANN to waive fees due to Coronavirus
- Most languages won’t be available at ICANN 67
- Domain Incite turns 10 today. What the fuck have I done with my life?
- Ethos volunteers for .org pricing handcuffs
- Yup. ICANN cancelled Cancun
- The Queen has beef with Prince Harry’s domain name
- ICANN wants to take your temperature before letting you into ICANN 67
- ICANN might cancel Spring Break over Covid-19 fears
- Verisign shits on domainers, again
- 9,000 people tell ICANN they don’t want .com price increases. Here’s what some of them said
- Covid-19: It’s official, domainers are faster than journalists
- ICA will help you support .com price increases (but doesn’t want you to)
- .gay hires pop star equality campaigner as spokesperson
- Watch: climate change denier on why she trusts .org more than .com
- Ethos’ .org pricing promise may be misleading
- Hacking claims resurface as .hotel losers force ICANN to lawyer up again
- ICANN refuses to release more info on .org deal
- Possibly the strangest new gTLD acquisition yet
- California .org probe — existential crisis or blessed relief for ICANN?
- As Cancun looms, ICANN bans China travel because of Coronavirus
- XYZ expands gTLD stable as L’Oreal exits the domain game
- Is the .co rebid biased toward Afilias? Yeah, kinda
- Amazon governments vow revenge for “illegal and unjust” ICANN decision on .amazon
- SaveDotOrg to protest outside ICANN HQ. #lol
- Ten years ago I predicted Oscar winners wanted a .movie gTLD. Was I right?
- ICANN gets a new European chief
- New CEO to step into the lion’s den at auDA
- Secrets of the .org deal revealed, but much info remains private
- Registrar terminated after what looks like domain hijacking
- NamesCon publishes full agenda for debut Austin conference
- .gay prices and availability revealed as registry promises to give 20% of revenue to charity
- Now .org critics actually want to take over the registry, blocking billion-dollar sale
- Verisign pays ICANN $20 million and gets to raise .com prices again
- ICANN predicts shrinkage in new gTLD sector
- ASO uses super powers to demand ICANN turn over .org buyout docs
- Now PIR rubbishes .org “downtime” claims
- DI Leaders Roundtable #4 — Big predictions for 2020
- Afilias denies .org will go down post-acquisition
- Palestine to release all one-character .ps domains, at a price
- PIR thinks 20-year domain regs are a good idea
- Amazon beats South America! Dot-brand contracts now signed
- Q3 industry growth driven by .tk, .com and .icu
- ICANN throws out second .org appeal, so URS stays
- Warning (or threat?) prices must go up or .org will suffer DAYS of downtime
- Russian company approved as gTLD escrow provider
- Guy gets 14 years for trying to steal a domain with a gun
- GoDaddy girls often make more money than the men
- Non-coms want .org’s future carved in stone
- Kamel’s deputy gets promoted at ICANN
- ICANN delays approval of .org acquisition
- AlpNames died months ago. Why is it still the “most-abused” registrar?
- Ethos promises to keep .org for many many many many years
- Amid .org controversy, Cerf predicts the death of all domains
- #SaveDotOrg to hold public web conference tomorrow with Ethos execs
- As pricey .new launches, Google reveals first set of big-name users including rapper Drake
- Three more dot-brands fizzle out. Total now 69, dudes
- Are ISOC’s claims about .org’s history bogus?
- Criminal .uk suspensions down this year
- Governments kill off another gTLD bid
- Four big developments in the .org pricing scandal
- DI Leaders Roundtable #3 — What did you think of ICANN 66?
- Petition launched to fight .org deal
- ICANN board meets to consider PIR acquisition TODAY
- XYZ buys dormant gTLD from “pyramid scheme” operator
- I attempt to answer ICA’s questions about the “terrible blunder” .org acquisition
- Selling off PIR, did ISOC just throw .org registrants under a bus?
- Rival dot-brand bidders in settlement talks, seek auction delay
- ICANN going back to Puerto Rico for a third time
- Montreal airport thinks DI is porn
- DI Leaders Roundtable #2 — Should we kill off “Whois”?
- Former NTIA chief Redl now working for Amazon
- Neustar’s .co contract up for grabs
- US official Heineman joins GoDaddy
- Web.com got pwned
- Surprise! ICANN throws out complaints about .org price caps
- Somber mood as ICANN 66 opens in Montreal
- America has Amazon’s back in gTLD fight at ICANN 66
- New (kinda) geo-TLD rules laid out at ICANN 66
- Emoji domains get a 😟 after broad study
- Industry veteran Jay Daley tapped to lead IETF
- Verisign likely to get its billion-dollar .com pricing windfall
- ICANN enters talks to kill off Whois for good
- Form an orderly queue: New Zealand wants a new back-end
- Brexit hell: .eu suspension plan put on hold
- DI Leaders Roundtable #1 — How many new gTLDs will be applied for next time around?
- Now you don’t have to live in the EU to register a .eu domain, but there’s a catch
- Spam is not our problem, major domain firms say ahead of ICANN 66
- Crunch time, again, for Whois access policy
- Google quietly launches .new domains sunrise
- After .org price outrage, ICANN says it has NOT scrapped public comments
- Hindu god smites Chrysler gTLD
- Top ICANN advisor Tarek Kamel dies at 57
- Three big changes could be coming to .uk
- Introducing… the DI Leaders Roundtable
- After killing the cows, what does the new Tucows logo remind you of?
- Radix acquires another gTLD
- .whoswho survives!
- Correction: the 10 most-used dot-brands
- Nominet raises .uk prices
- Registrar suspended over dodgy transfers
Did Apple buy iCloud.com for $4.5m?
Kevin Murphy,
April 28, 2011, 10:02:55 (UTC),
Domain Sales
Apple is rumored to have spent $4.5 million on the domain name icloud.com.
If it’s true, and domain-only sale, the deal, first reported by GigaOm today, would be in the top 15 most-expensive reported domain name transactions of all time, according to my records.
The Whois for icloud.com currently shows Xcerion, a Swedish company, as the registrant, mostly behind Network Solutions’ privacy service.
According to GigaOm, Xcerion recently rebranded its iCloud service as CloudMe, which is a useful indicator that it doesn’t plan on using the domain for much longer.
Recent Comments
Verisign probably thought this was getting too close for comfort, so decided it was time to sever the relationship. Aft... read more
I'm not in favour of this decision nor do I approve the untold arrangements between ICANN and Verisign. However, ICANN'... read more
June 4, 2019 Why Verisign ‘NASDAQ:VRSN’ Will Inevitably Get Its .COM Domain Price Increase Sought https://www.strategi... read more
The department of commerce isn't actually raising the prices, but they intend to increase the pricing flexibility for Ve... read more
The only part that was ever in doubt, was whether the 20m$ bung was enough !... read more
Verisign has been on easy street for far too long. They have no competition. Their operating costs have been going down ... read more
An election is coming this year to who is new POTUS, so every registered US voter can factor this price increase in his ... read more
Funny how to implement that if you have a parked domain name with coming soon page...... read more
Mark has covered it far more succinctly and eloquently than I could. The constant attempt to both demonize registrar... read more
Thanks Kev for sharing this, I just joined!... read more
Theo - I focussed on the .ie domain names and found three categories in their list: 1 - domains that aren't pointing an... read more
I just parsed a few thousand domain names of the DT list and I notice that several parking providers like Efty.com are n... read more
Mike, filtering out the domains that are up for sale is no issue as they are usually parked on known platforms.... read more
Theo the majority of the domain name industry is to intelligent to register such domains, as they know they have no mark... read more
I would suggest people in the domain name industry join the Covid-19 Cyber Threat Coalition. https://join.slack.com/... read more
Your version of what happened with the Airmailchemist situation is not entirely the way it went down. The fatality wa... read more
Every registry and registrar can take a look at https://1984.sh/covid19-domains-feed.txt and look for domains under its ... read more
A change sometimes takes time and sometimes it happens all of a sudden. All suspicion towards new gTLDs will slowly disa... read more
Sites selling 10-minute coronavirus tests, while there is no such thing, is one example.... read more
What kind of coronavirus websites do you guys think should be taken down and why? Do you have any examples?... read more
I'm old enough to remember the refrain of "if you don't play along with (insert policy proposal here), then legislators ... read more
Just the ones registering corona domains.... read more
Rubens Kuhl: Are you saying all domainers should rot in hell? Or just any person who registers corona domains in h... read more
This deal is still terrible for pretty much every stake holder, outside Ethos and PIR/ISOC. No amount of time or supe... read more
check Covid19.com, they are straight up jack asses... read more
si... read more
Hope one of those is coronadomainersshouldrotin.hell.... read more
We have over 400 Corona Names for sale at http://CoronaNames.com... read more
Just some feedback on the website: covid-19.com, when you open it in China, the data in the left of your screen is the d... read more
Interesting and well-researched recap. But... First, so no one can buy a domain name with an intent to make money ... read more
"For the record, I agree with Allemann: serious domain investors should never attempt to exploit these kinds of crises f... read more
.net is the only agreement with prices set by ICANN, for now. It's probably just a calendar cycle and by the time the ne... read more
Rubens, You claim “it’s discretionary by ICANN” to control pricing. But ICANN is currently controlling pricing. I... read more
ICANN67 was a successful learning experience. There technology basically worked well on the sessions I attended. There a... read more
For the first time ever, I see people wearing masks in the Paris' tube. It happened in the past to see tourists wearing ... read more
I am sure ICANN will increase prices before we all die.... read more
The GDPR truly shows the cultural differences between American and European lawyers. American laws are more absolute, wh... read more
Contract negotiations are bilateral in nature in every industry, and the domain industry is no exception. It's not only ... read more
Rubens – but the removal of all pricing caps in .ORG is what caused this entire mess. This Ethos Capital deal would h... read more
Most importantly – if ICANN does not want to be a pricing regulator – it should have followed the United States Departme... read more
But ICANN is a price regulator. They are engaged in price regulation today. ICANN has been a price regulator since its... read more
sussexduke.com is logical... read more
Every decision based on pricing makes ICANN a pricing regulator, a role they are running from like hell. Unless the ... read more
1) Is it appropriate that there is such certainty in a registry operator’s capture of their concession that monetization... read more
The new pricing structure is now reality thanks to ICANN. Which is exactly why they should take that into consideration ... read more
I'm not sure that Kevin's statement that "ICANN has the ability, under its registry agreement with PIR, to reject a chan... read more
.org pricing caps removal is a decision already taken by ICANN Board, so pricing is not a factor for ICANN Board to appr... read more
Well he barely beat me to it on the name. I just listed the following names on GoDaddy auction for sale, and these are ... read more
Look at what Jon Postel said in June of 1996. Jon Postel is one the creators of the Internet: “Another concern with ... read more
The ICANN board should pay close attention and listen to what the Founding CEO and Director of ICANN (Mike Roberts) rece... read more
In PIR’s 2018 annual report, they admitted the new gTLD program has not created new competition. When talking about t... read more
The .ORG domain extension has 10.4 million registrants (at end of 2018.) PIR has consistently said they have very hig... read more
My concern is that Ethos Capital continues to spread false information regarding competition and how they compete in the... read more
Brad is right: "The bottom line is basically no one believes a 10% increase per year is either justified, or deserved."... read more
The community has spoken loudly and clearly on this. The bottom line is basically no one believes a 10% increase per ... read more
"But Ethos has offered to cap price increases at 10% per year on average for the next seven years, reimposing a price ca... read more
It's happened/happening to most of us in the industry. I think you're truly part of the club now?! Cheers!... read more
It is time to STOP the wholesale shift-in-control and -ownership of key swaths of the internet to BIG MONEY interests. ... read more
"Anyone dropping the F-bomb or calling the deal “gay”, as happened during the recent .com comment period..." Please s... read more
Ridiculous request, one of the co’s requesting a handout is Alibaba, a $560 billion dollar company. These Chinese cor... read more
The real savings will come from any future cancelations (GDD? Kuala Lumpur?)... read more
Agreed, Kevin, I can't see ICANN granting this request. The precedent would be set for registrars in other affected are... read more
It won't be approved.... read more
Happy Anniversary ! Thoroughly enjoy the cheeky Keen "incite", Greatly appreciate the balanced commentary you put e... read more
You, dry? LOL ;-) Happy 10th Anniversary and a big thank-you for always keeping it humorously real.... read more
There was a tech writer from Londonish Whose domain portfolio was admittedly amateurish. His readers’ joy increased W... read more
Hey Kevin, Tell the distracted taxi driver that at least you don’t make a living by suggesting domains. Most of my dr... read more
Congratulations on the 10 years and thank you for your research and clear and insightful writing. And also for this deli... read more
Definitely the funniest domain article I've ever read. At least you have the comedy career to fall back on! Fairness... read more
I receive about 100 spam emails ending in .icu now. I loathe this domain now.... read more
Hi Kevin, I liked your above article on COVID-19's meticulous grab by some domainer. I am a dark-horse domainer and p... read more
Thank you Kevin, we want another 10 years and an option for another 10 years, same as registry contract with ICANN. Keep... read more
Thanks for your coverage of the industry and ICANN. I always found it more interesting for the insights on the “new” gov... read more
Happy Tenth Murphy! Cheers to the next 10!... read more
10 years is a tough slog as anything in the domain space, let alone a writer. You gotta give up the facts on your "firs... read more