Apple has acquired the domain name icloud.net.
There is a story out tonight in AppleInsider.com, that “earlier this week, a tipster told AppleInsider that Apple paid some $1.5 million for the domain, but we were unable to confirm the transaction.”
“TechCrunch was also unable to corroborate financial details. When asked about the domain takeover, Apple declined requests for comment.
“Shortly before iCloud launched in 2011, Apple was rumored to have paid $4.5 million to Swedish software company Xcerion for the iCloud.com domain. The actual amount was later revealed to be closer to $5.2 million, making the currently rumored $1.5 million figure for iCloud.net a bargain.”
“Why Apple decided to purchase iCloud.net after nearly six years is unclear. TechCrunch speculates the move might be related to Apple’s rumored video and image sharing app. The product, which is supposedly set for launch later this year, is akin to established sharing services Snapchat and Instagram in that it will allow users to record video, apply filters and send the resulting content to contacts or upload it to existing networks like Facebook or Twitter.
Whatever Apple’s motive, the iCloud.net social network that has been in operation since 2011 is no longer active and all data associated with the erstwhile site will be expunged on Mar. 1.”
If true they just wasted $1.5million. I can just imagine all the idiots at NP registering a bunch of iCloud domains now. iCloud.net will do nothing at all for apple.
are you new to domain names? they bought it as a defensive registration. they own the .com .org .tv now net. they closed the book on icloud no one can ever own a meaningful icloud domain its over for that term that’s why they bought it.
Apple Market Cap = more than $700 billion.
$1,5 million is nothing for Apple.
Owning the name will do nothing at all for Apple, ditto for .org, .tv and the hundreds of other tlds that exist. It doesn’t matter if someone is running a website on iCloud.net, that site has 10 users. This is a story of corporate waste in my view. Who else goes around paying over a million dollars for a .net that they have no use for?
Snoopy, you seeing from the average person angle. Learn to see it as corporations. Often time it is wastefull and might or might not have marginal benefit. When you sitting on litteraly hundreds of billions of cash, not just money, cash. 1.5 mil is nothing to them even to just have bragging rights to own all major icloud extensions.
DK, they aren’t going to “brag” to anyone about owning a bunch of iCloud domains in 2nd rate extensions, the CEO probably doesn’t even know about the acquisition. They’ll get absolutely no benefit from it, that is why most companies of similar size just wouldn’t not bother at that price regardless of how much money they have.
Overall this will do damage to Apple because people will go higher with them when negotiating. They’ll be trying to negotiate on .net’s with people asking into 7 figures because they have now set a precedent for themselves. For .com’s who would settle for 7 figures with them when they are paying that for .net’s?
Agreed, seems like a complete waste of $1.5M, good for the seller but not making much sense to me.
…looks like ICLOUD.CO for sale as well! Should be a good deal for the owner if apple approached him/her… how much would be a reasonable offer for ICLOUD.CO?
Wonder if they’ll also get iCloud.biz
I think the big point here is they could have acquired the domain for peanuts before they announced the product.
Today’s story on ApplePark.com is another example
I don’t think Apple really cares how much, as long as the price is reasonable (i.e, less than $10 million USD).
Companies like Apple work with IP brokers, and the attorneys set incentives for getting an asset below a certain price. I’ve engaged brokers we all know who use the same model — to try to acquire domains.
Apple makes approx, $105 K net profit per hour, And has an estimated $250 Billion in cash reserves.
Per ApplePark.com — who owns this domain? I realize the whois is private —
@Mike Berkens
“a .net domain name is normally worth only 5% are at best of a the matching .com domain in the aftermarket”.
That may be true for domain investors, but with end users is a totally different story.
Many .net names have been sold and are being sold for way more than that, and anyway it’s always a case-by-case situation.
As regards this specific alleged purchase, if confirmed, congrats to the seller. 🙂
Andrea, that isn’t really true, only in the extreme outlier case. Most of the time the enduser won’t pay anything for the .net, regardless of the price of the .com. So if in 1% of cases they will pay 5%, in the other 99% of cases they will pay 0%.
Snoopy, I think you don’t know end users market.
Of course it has to be a premium keyword, not a random word or made-up word.
What you talking about dude, swath cloud? what the hell is that? What is a swath?
icloud.net was a “small social networK” in China with maybe 10 users. (ironically all but one from the USA)
the leading blog entry on the site was all about how much Apple had paid to acquire icloud.com and all the other icloud domains that were included in this transaction. It also mentioned that Apple apparently didn’t want the transfer of icloud.net when the transaction was made, which included the icloud.com domain and many other icloud domains, as well as the ICLOUD trademark.
since icloud.net was a “social network” and Apple has an iCLOUD trademark in a class for social networking, me thinks this transaction could relate to acquiring these rights in China via the iCloud.net domain transaction.
Why Apple neglected to accept the transfer of icloud.net in 2011 — is just another example of how much these companies “waste” — they don’t waste as much as governments, but publicly traded companies aren’t exactly frugal.
Why Apple neglected to accept the transfer of icloud.net in 2011
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They probably thought the price was too high.
I wonder if they got the iCloud in any offshoot extensions ?? like .CLUB etc…