Technology giant Apple is currently listed by Forbes as the largest tech company in the world, beating the likes of Samsung, Microsoft and Alphabet (Google) thanks to their array of popular products such as the iPhone and the MacBook Pro. I am an Apple fan. I use Apple products every day, and so I wanted to take a look at some of the domain names that Apple currently owns.
Me.com
In 2008, Apple launched MobileMe; a subscription based collection of online services that was eventually replaced by iCloud in 2012. The service came in for some criticism from a number of people, including Steve Jobs who described it as “not up to Apple’s standards.” The service may have been poor, but the name wasn’t.
Apple chose to buy Me.com for the project, which they acquired some time in late 2007 or early 2008. MacRumors published a report that Apple had bought the name from a social networking company who suddenly rebranded from Me.com to Snappville in late 2007.
Carbon.com
I was initially perplexed as to why Apple would own Carbon.com. Those programmers out there may recognise Carbon as being one of Apple’s C-based APIs that provided backwards compatibility for Mac OS X software. Carbon was considered to be obsolete in 2012, and now Carbon.com just redirects to Apple.com.
There’s a company called Carbon that has raised $222 million in funding, according to Crunchbase. They’re currently using Carbon3D.com as their domain, and if Apple ever does decide to sell, this would be my guess as to who the buyer would be.
Next.com
When Steve Jobs was infamously forced out of Apple in 1985, he created NeXT and created high end computer workstations designed for higher education and businesses. In 1996, Apple announced it’s intention to buy NeXT, and paid $429 million in cash for the company in a move that brought Steve Jobs back to Apple.
It also meant that the Next.com domain name was transferred into Apple’s possession. As with Carbon.com, the domain is redirected to Apple’s homepage. There’s a large British clothing brand called Next who use next.co.uk. It’s likely that they have inquired about the availability of Next.com in the past.
Airport.com
Released in 1999, AirPort was the name given to the series of wireless base stations that allowed AirPort-enabled computers to access the Internet. Apple still offers AirPort products designed to allow users to play music wirelessly, share printers and expand user networks. Apple redirects airport.com to their AirPort product page.
Newton.com
The Newton is a series of personal digital assistants that Apple developed in the early 90s, and according to Wikipedia, the device was the first to feature handwriting recognition. The domain Newton.com was registered by Apple in 1994, the year after the device was released.
When Steve Jobs returned to the company, the Newton project was cancelled, but newton.com was kept within Apple’s portfolio, and has been ever since. Like many of Apple’s historical names, the name redirects to Apple’s homepage.
Domains Apple Doesn’t Own, But Probably Should
Although Apple owns thousands of domain names, there are several that the company may have considered buying at some point in time, but ultimately didn’t. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at a few domains that Apple doesn’t own, but probably should.
iPad.com
The iPad has been around for over six years now, and has been a great money maker for Apple. Within 90 days of its launch, iPads were used by 50% of Fortune 500 companies, and a survey by Frost & Sullivan shows that iPad usage in office workplaces is linked to the goals of increased employee productivity, reduced paperwork, and increased revenue. Since 2010, it is estimated that over 300 million iPads have been sold.
However, iPad.com has never been owned by Apple. The domain was originally registered in 1997, and according to archive.org, iPad.com has displayed a coming soon page since at least 2010. Apple does own iPhone.com, iPod.com and iMac.com, but failed to get iPad.com.
Beats.com
Beats Electronics was founded by rapper Dr Dre and record producer Jimmy Iovine. In 2013, Beats Electronics posted revenues of $1.5 billion thanks largely to its popular range of Beats by Dre headphones. In 2014, Apple announced that they had paid $3 billion, including $2.6 billion in cash, to buy Beats Electronics.
Neither Beats Electronics nor Apple have ever acquired Beats.com, though. The domain has been listed at Sedo, and has a minimum offer threshold of $10,000. I am surprised that with the Beats acquisition valued at $3 billion, they didn’t buy Beats.com.
OSX.com
Apple has been using the term Mac OS X since 2002, and OS X since 2012 as the brand name for Apple Mac’s operating system. While Apple owns osx.biz and osx.info, they have never picked up OSX.com. As of writing the domain forwards to a domain brokerage page for eNaming.
Apple has recently changed OS X to macOS, which brings it inline with Apple’s other operating system names: iOS, watchOS and tvOS. It’s likely that the company won’t need or want the name now, but they may have tried to acquire it unsuccessfully in the past.
SteveJobs.com
Apple’s co-founder and former CEO, Steve Jobs, was considered by many to be an extraordinary businessman, who lead Apple through some of their most innovative and productive years. Steve died in 2011, and since then, Apple has produced a page on their website called “Remembering Steve” in tribute to their former leader.
The company does own StevenJobs.com, but SteveJobs.com is currently owned by an individual in South Korea, and displays a parked page.
TimCook.com
Apple has also failed to get their current CEO’s name - TimCook.com. Tim took over from Steve Jobs after his death, and has lead Apple through a number of product releases. Tim tweets from @tim_cook and has close to four million followers, but TimCook.com is owned by eWeb Development of Vancouver.
Me.com
In 2008, Apple launched MobileMe; a subscription based collection of online services that was eventually replaced by iCloud in 2012. The service came in for some criticism from a number of people, including Steve Jobs who described it as “not up to Apple’s standards.” The service may have been poor, but the name wasn’t.
Apple chose to buy Me.com for the project, which they acquired some time in late 2007 or early 2008. MacRumors published a report that Apple had bought the name from a social networking company who suddenly rebranded from Me.com to Snappville in late 2007.
Carbon.com
I was initially perplexed as to why Apple would own Carbon.com. Those programmers out there may recognise Carbon as being one of Apple’s C-based APIs that provided backwards compatibility for Mac OS X software. Carbon was considered to be obsolete in 2012, and now Carbon.com just redirects to Apple.com.
There’s a company called Carbon that has raised $222 million in funding, according to Crunchbase. They’re currently using Carbon3D.com as their domain, and if Apple ever does decide to sell, this would be my guess as to who the buyer would be.
When Steve Jobs was infamously forced out of Apple in 1985, he created NeXT and created high end computer workstations designed for higher education and businesses. In 1996, Apple announced it’s intention to buy NeXT, and paid $429 million in cash for the company in a move that brought Steve Jobs back to Apple.
It also meant that the Next.com domain name was transferred into Apple’s possession. As with Carbon.com, the domain is redirected to Apple’s homepage. There’s a large British clothing brand called Next who use next.co.uk. It’s likely that they have inquired about the availability of Next.com in the past.
Airport.com
Released in 1999, AirPort was the name given to the series of wireless base stations that allowed AirPort-enabled computers to access the Internet. Apple still offers AirPort products designed to allow users to play music wirelessly, share printers and expand user networks. Apple redirects airport.com to their AirPort product page.
Newton.com
The Newton is a series of personal digital assistants that Apple developed in the early 90s, and according to Wikipedia, the device was the first to feature handwriting recognition. The domain Newton.com was registered by Apple in 1994, the year after the device was released.
When Steve Jobs returned to the company, the Newton project was cancelled, but newton.com was kept within Apple’s portfolio, and has been ever since. Like many of Apple’s historical names, the name redirects to Apple’s homepage.
Domains Apple Doesn’t Own, But Probably Should
Although Apple owns thousands of domain names, there are several that the company may have considered buying at some point in time, but ultimately didn’t. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at a few domains that Apple doesn’t own, but probably should.
iPad.com
The iPad has been around for over six years now, and has been a great money maker for Apple. Within 90 days of its launch, iPads were used by 50% of Fortune 500 companies, and a survey by Frost & Sullivan shows that iPad usage in office workplaces is linked to the goals of increased employee productivity, reduced paperwork, and increased revenue. Since 2010, it is estimated that over 300 million iPads have been sold.
However, iPad.com has never been owned by Apple. The domain was originally registered in 1997, and according to archive.org, iPad.com has displayed a coming soon page since at least 2010. Apple does own iPhone.com, iPod.com and iMac.com, but failed to get iPad.com.
Beats.com
Beats Electronics was founded by rapper Dr Dre and record producer Jimmy Iovine. In 2013, Beats Electronics posted revenues of $1.5 billion thanks largely to its popular range of Beats by Dre headphones. In 2014, Apple announced that they had paid $3 billion, including $2.6 billion in cash, to buy Beats Electronics.
Neither Beats Electronics nor Apple have ever acquired Beats.com, though. The domain has been listed at Sedo, and has a minimum offer threshold of $10,000. I am surprised that with the Beats acquisition valued at $3 billion, they didn’t buy Beats.com.
OSX.com
Apple has been using the term Mac OS X since 2002, and OS X since 2012 as the brand name for Apple Mac’s operating system. While Apple owns osx.biz and osx.info, they have never picked up OSX.com. As of writing the domain forwards to a domain brokerage page for eNaming.
Apple has recently changed OS X to macOS, which brings it inline with Apple’s other operating system names: iOS, watchOS and tvOS. It’s likely that the company won’t need or want the name now, but they may have tried to acquire it unsuccessfully in the past.
SteveJobs.com
Apple’s co-founder and former CEO, Steve Jobs, was considered by many to be an extraordinary businessman, who lead Apple through some of their most innovative and productive years. Steve died in 2011, and since then, Apple has produced a page on their website called “Remembering Steve” in tribute to their former leader.
The company does own StevenJobs.com, but SteveJobs.com is currently owned by an individual in South Korea, and displays a parked page.
TimCook.com
Apple has also failed to get their current CEO’s name - TimCook.com. Tim took over from Steve Jobs after his death, and has lead Apple through a number of product releases. Tim tweets from @tim_cook and has close to four million followers, but TimCook.com is owned by eWeb Development of Vancouver.
