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.apple goes live

Kevin Murphy, November 4, 2015, Domain Registries

Apple’s .apple new gTLD was delegated today.
It’s going to be a strict dot-brand gTLD, in which only Apple can register domain names, but could wind up being highly influential.
While .apple now appears in the DNS root zone, no second-level names (not even nic.apple) are yet resolving.
Should Apple actually use its new TLD in a prominent way, it would be good news for the visibility of new gTLDs internationally.
The company has sold hundreds of millions of devices over the last decade or so.
But the company has a spotty history of paying attention to domain names, regularly launching products without first securing matching domain names.
It did recently adopt a .news domain name for one of its apps, however.
.apple could wind up being purely defensive, at least in the near term.
Apple’s 2012 application to ICANN describes its plans in literally one sentence, repeated five times:

Apple seeks to obtain the new .apple gTLD in order to provide consumers with another opportunity to learn about Apple, and its products and services.

Apple division Beats Electronics, which makes headphones, also had its dot-brand, .beats, delegated today.