Apple® launched its iPad today and just so happens NOT to own the matching product domain name iPad.com . Many people seem to think that owning the matching domain name isn’t that big of a deal? It is! Heck yes it is and there are several reasons why it is important to own it.
Well that image above, very shortly after the announcement of the product by Apple named iPad, the iPad.com domain name is the # 18th most popular site on the net for those with the Alexa.com toolbar. What does that mean for all internet users? It’s a good guide and proves that traffic is driven to the exact match domain names because clearly no marketing was done before hand of the domain name iPad.com . This likely will continue to climb as more people find out about the name of the product. Proof that people naturally visit the matching product name and add .com to it. See proof here in a later article I wrote about the iPad.com’s traffic increase.
Will Apple end up buying the domain iPad.com? They will for sure try and they likely already have tried but it may cost some big bucks now the product is launched. Apple may also already own it but right now it doesn’t appear so.
The domain name whois is privacy protected and the domain doesn’t resolve to anything Apple related. Whois shows a Enero 6 Corp. as the owners and a Martine Bejasa name that has been in whois records since at least 2001.
Domain Names are Very Important and it is important to own the exact match of your company name, product(s) name, services etc before you launch! If you figure this out later, it is still not to late and is worth trying to contact the current owner using the whois database.
iPad.com was first registered in 1997 and has been ever since if you were wondering when the domain was registered.
SL
Jamie, I’d argue that this one is not as big of a deal as the iphone.com purchase was.
Once someone sees that ipad.com is not what they expected, they’ll immediately go to apple.com or simply Google it.
At this point the Apple name is just too well known for there to be any confusion. Everyone knows the iPod and iPhone now, it wasn’t as clear to the general public a few years ago. By extension, almost everyone will know to go to apple.com for the iPad.
If it was a startup company then absolutely the name would be crucial.
As a matter of fact, the current owner is now sitting on a ton of traffic (and costs) and would have a tough time monetizing it directly if s/he wanted to because of the trademarks in place.
We’ll see though. Even if it serves as a vanity redirect, Apple may indeed make a large enough (re-)offer for it.
Ms Domainer
*
Apple may already own the domain.
There are rumors that Steve Jobs is connected with enero6 corp.
*
Jamie Zoch
@SL,
I agree for Apple’s sake but it is good proof even when a company the size of Apple and it’s brand.. people visit the exact match domain.
Jamie Zoch
@Ms D,
Apple doesn’t own it or they would of acted on it by now and did a forward or put up a site IMO
Anunt
If you guys really think ipad.com is worth a million dollars to apple,
then how much is i-pad.com worth?
You can buy it right now for only $3250.
i-phone.com, i-pod.com is not owned by apple…so i guess apple doesn’t want i-pad.com either!
iphone.com, ipod.com, ipad.com …these domain names do not get that much traffic…check the alexa ranking.
I personally think these domains are not worth that much to apple…apple don’t care!
SL
@Jamie: Absolutely. I just think that as domainers we need to be more nuanced about the criteria we use for assigning “value” to domains.
In this case the traffic is massive (and will continue to be). But the real question is will it result in lost sales for Apple?
I think this one is more clear-cut than the nexusone.com debate. Jmho.
Pandarian
I think even apple doesnt loss any sales by not owning the ipad.com, they will try to get it. because people may missuse ipad.com