back to article Apple ignores dozens of iCloud domains

Apple may have paid millions for the domain name iCloud.com, but it seems to have left dozens of related domains in the hands of former iCloud owner Xcerion. The company is expected to announce details of iCloud – rumoured to be some kind of cloud-based music service – at its Worldwide Developer Conference next week. …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Holmes

    Paging Tatty

    Call from Mr Jobs' lawyers for you sir.

  2. Christopher 1
    Joke

    Mr. Bojangles

    ... is really a girl!

    Ahh, SNL jokes :P

  3. RichyS
    Stop

    .com is the important one

    Realistically, people only try the .org, .net, .whatever if the .com domain doesn't work. Apple would be wasting their money frankly.

    1. alexh2o
      Go

      Just in case?

      Although I agree with you, given Apple's cash pile compared to the theoretical maximum price they would need to pay... I'd say it would be worth the pennies just to own them!

    2. NightFox
      Thumb Down

      Damn

      So no chance of Apple offering me a few $million for icloud.freeserve.co.uk that I've just registered then?

      1. Spike-us
        WTF?

        Hmm

        Not sure "registered" is the right word to use for a subdomain of "freeserve.co.uk"

  4. Turtle

    "privacy service'"

    "...third party using a privacy service to mask their identity..."

    I have never heard of these. Does anyone know where I can find out more about them?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      No

      That information is private

    2. Giddy Kipper

      @Turtle

      http://tinyurl.com/429cpj7

    3. David Ward 1

      yep..

      http://lmgtfy.com/?q=domain+privacy+service

    4. Captain Underpants

      TBH I thought most registrars offered something like this

      Most registrars should offer you the chance (!) to pay them a bit more money per annum and put their details down as the registrar, but in such a way as not to fall foul of ICANN rules. I'd imagine it's most useful for domains relating to small businesses operating out of residential properties...

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    How about

    iCouldn't care less?

    1. Ian Moffatt 1
      FAIL

      But you obviously can care less

      Because you took the time and effort to post here

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Happy

        @Ian Moffatt 1

        Yes I know - but the play on words made me chuckle and that's worth more to me then whatever Apple is up to at the mo.

  6. Rich 30
    Meh

    apple.co.uk

    If they aren't interested in apple.co.uk, i'm fairly certain they wont want idrive.co.uk etc.

    1. The Fuzzy Wotnot
      Happy

      Indeed...

      Whenever I accidentally type apple.co.uk and end up staring at those pictures, I often wonder if the owners get a lot more work from that URL mistake?!

  7. Giddy Kipper
    Boffin

    @Turtle

    Even better; http://bit.ly/kpI1Kh

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Slow news day?

    Apple just owned me.com for their current MobileMe service, the me.org and me.net domains belong to others.

    Why pay extra if they don't need it? Like RichyS said .com is the one that matters. Many don't even type URLs in these days.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Happy

      Worse than that

      ...I've seen my father type the URL into google. Slowly, and with both index fingers, naturally.

      I hate being in IT sometimes; the unofficial support role for the immediate family would be ok, if they weren't even dumber than the drones in the office...

  9. Jamie Kitson

    Yes but

    Apple doesn't even own apple.co.uk, so I can't see it caring about icloud.co.uk

  10. hexx
    FAIL

    so

    what is this article all about again????

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Meh

    ICloud.co.uk

    Ok, so a macuser journo snaps up the domain one month before it's "official".

    Is this the journo equivalent of insider dealing?

    Where I work this would get the Spanish inquisition, even if it's all above board.

  12. Zot

    I haven't typed an actual domain name for a long time...

    ...unless it's a banking service of course. Just type 'apple' into the domain name bar, and you'll find the site with the highest rank - guess who. Even with an error it'll still give the correct suggestion.

  13. Turtle

    thanks all!

    I need to take a moment to thank the clever adolescents who took the time to reply to my post. I bet your parents are proud of you!

    (Although, to be honest, I was hoping that someone might reply who had some personal knowledge and experience with such services. But then again, this *is* the internet, after all, where people can be that which, in real life, they are not: in this case, "clever".)

    Believe me, I am *just* as impressed with you as your grandparents will be, when they hear about this from your mother!

    Thanks again!

    : )

    1. Goat Jam
      Headmaster

      TBH, I didn't click on the "adolescent" replies

      but I think the idea of a "privacy service" would maybe be in violation of one or more relevant RFC's which I'm not prepared to research for you.

      Not that an RFC is a real law of course.

      However, law or not the registrant of a domain is *supposed* to be identifiable and contactable.

      Some companies try to get around this by registering domains through shell companies but even this is not too hard for the determined sleuth to bypass, seeing that registered companies are also supposed to be traceable to a person / corp as well.

      There have been several examples that I fail to recall the exact details for where MegaCorp X has registered domain Y using proxy company Z, only for it all to come undone when somebody looks up who the directors of proxy company Z are only to find that they are all employees of, or have prior dealings with, MegaCorp X.

      If there are "privacy companies" who you could register your domains through then I've never heard of such a thing. The mainstream domain registrars would probably balk at violating whatever RFC's apply just to ensure that they are not stripped of their registrar status.

      It would be possible I suppose for a company to set itself up as some sort of "private domain registration proxy service" but to be honest how much value would apple get using such a service? As soon as somebody noticed that icloud.com has been registered/purchased by "Barry's Discreet Domain Registration Service" then putting 2 and 2 together wouldn't be all that hard and we would see the same speculation regarding apple buying the domain that we are already seeing.

      Besides that, using Barry's Discreet Domain Reg would not be without it's risks as Barry would effectively *own* the icloud.com domain that apple want to register and would do so until such a time that they transfered it over to apple.

      Who's to say that Barry might decide that transferring icloud.com over to apple might be worth an extra premium for the privilege?

      However I may be wrong too. It has been known to happen.

  14. Goat Jam
    Facepalm

    Say what?

    "With previous high-profile Apple launches, products have long been on the market before the company has turned its attention to the corresponding domain names."

    Well, they could hardly launch a web service without a domain name to hitch it to now could they?

    What exactly did you expect them to do? Tell people to enter an IP address into their nav bar and then go grab the domain name later?

  15. manman

    iclowed domains

    And don't forget www.iClowed.com

    Apparently lots of companies are interested in that domain now.

  16. pctechxp

    @Turtle

    I use one for my .com which I use as a personal e-mail address and I added it when I ordered my domain with network solutions, it just puts their address and phone number as a care of in the whois.

    Its about 15 quid a year in real sterling, and a little more in USD.

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