“.ME” Domain Name Sunrise and Landrush Dates Announced!
Originally announced by DotSauce here the country of Montenegro was granted the .ME domain name top-level by ICANN. It was later announced that GoDaddy.com and the Affilias Registry will be managing the new .ME domain names.
After reading the press release it sounds like they are expecting the .ME Landrush to go similarly to the original .TV domain launch. Auctioning the premium domain names is fine and dandy but hopefully they optimize the auction platform and handle the recurring registration fees well.
.ME domains, with their universal appeal, are expected to be in high demand. So some “premium” names – including verb-oriented domains, such as “Contact.ME,” “Drive.ME” or “Fly.ME,” – will be held back for auction after Open Registration.
Click Here to Pre-Order Your .ME Domain!
Official “.ME” Rollout Schedule
Finally we have some concrete time frames for the public launch of the .ME domain names!
May 6 to May 20: General Sunrise Period. During this time, anyone with a trademark is eligible to apply for a .ME domain.
May 20 to June 6: Quiet Period. The registry will be closed to registrars. Sunrise auctions will begin for names that received multiple applications. .ME domain names that receive only one application will be awarded.
June 6 to June 26: Landrush. This is the first opportunity for the public at large to apply. Anyone who doesn’t have a trademark, but is interested in a specific .ME domain, can apply during this period. This is also when Sunrise challenges begin.
June 26 to July 15: Quiet Period. During this time, the registry is closed to registrars. Names for which there was only one application during the Landrush Period are allocated. Landrush auctions will begin for names that received multiple applications.
July 17: Open Registration. Domain names are registered on a first-come, first-served basis.
Poll Question: Your Feedback on .ME Domains
Loading ...Why .ME May be Successful
Here are some ideas that I pointed out in my previous announcement that GoDaddy will be managing .ME with Affilias.
- Will not be restricted, anyone in the world can claim one.
- GoDaddy will use its marketing muscle to globally promote it.
- Many languages contain the word “me” with various catchy meanings.
- Huge branding potential for English speaking countries.
- All registrars will be invited to resell the .ME extension.
Thanks for your feedback and please leave a comment below with your thoughts on the .ME domain extension.
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April 10th, 2008 at 4:09 am
Also a huge branding potential in the Spanish speaking countries, where “yo” means “I” but “me” means “me” as a direct object pronoun. So then a ton of the premium names would work in Spanish as well:
Love.me
Ama.me
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April 10th, 2008 at 4:47 am
Looking forward to that day - July 17: Open Registration. Domain names are registered on a first-come, first-served basis.
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April 10th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Don’t forget all the simple sites like:
Mi.me
-Na.me (MyNa.me, BabyNa.me)
-Ho.me (GoHo.me, CheapHo.me)
-Ga.me (VideoGa.me)
I can see Me.me being huge.
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April 10th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Looking forward to this one. But how much is registration? As long as registration is reasonable, I think this will be a good extension.
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April 11th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Sounds like another way domainers will waste their money, could be better than .mobi though.
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April 12th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Everyone might be eagarly waiting for july 17th, the day of open registration. But I think its totally waste of time and money. Getting a domain name is not a great thing, but to keep it is very difficult thing. Either it may be “.ME” or “.com” or any thing else doesn’t matter.
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April 12th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Don’t sleep through this one! This, visually, is a great extension. Personally, I think residents of Montenegro will be very happy :) The cheeky adult industry will be all over this one as well.
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April 13th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Sounds good but I’ve always wondered on what the search engines think of .me domains from a SEO perspective.
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April 13th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
what a waste of money
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April 13th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
I think it’s hard to say whether a big purchasing campaign is worth it every time a new extension comes out. But .Me has some interesting potential as it’s also an English word, which is more than what can be said about other ext.
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April 14th, 2008 at 12:26 am
I think the .me names may be a bust. I thought for sure that .tv and .info would bring in a lot more power than they do. At the end of the day, people are still loving the dot coms.
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April 14th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
.me domain is just a waste of money, .com domains will always remain the best and most popular domains :)
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April 14th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
I think that this will be a very worthwhile extension. There’s lots of potential and lots of things that can be done on the play with words. It will always be a .com world, but you never know what else can come out of this .me thing.
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April 14th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Unless you got something really special (love.me, visit.me etc.) I can’t see the extension taking off to much. If you develop the domain it could work because its pretty easy to remember.
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April 16th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
I am also wondering about the SEO benefits of a .me domain, and if there are any.
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April 17th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Gus made a really good point.
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April 26th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
How do you register for a .ME domain during the Landrush period (in June)? I’d love to get a couple of domain names but I don’t think they can wait until open registration.
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May 7th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Premium .me domain list :
http://www.dooot.com/it/premium-me-domain-names
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May 8th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Sunrise4/28/08 - 5/20/08
(includes Pre-Registration)
Trademark holders may submit requests for .ME domains. After the sunrise period closes, domain names requested by multiple trademark-holders will be auctioned between the requesting parties.
Landrush5/6/08 - 6/26/08
(includes Pre-Registration)
Anyone may apply for a .ME domain name during this period. After Landrush closes, domain names requested by multiple parties will be auctioned between the requesting parties.
Open Registration 7/17/08
Domains issued on a first-come first-served basis.
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June 18th, 2008 at 1:56 am
Million Dollar .ME Domain Fraudulently Registered…
HIRE.ME, likely to sell on the domain aftermarket for over a million dollars, was registered on June 13th, 2008 under questionable circumstances.
According to the public whois on domain.me, David Jedda registered the name by using a US Trademark Name “Hire.Me” that he had the foresight to apply for on 01/01/05 and received 01/01/06. Mr Jedda supplied Trademark Number 00000000 in his registration of the domain.
Interestingly enough, a search of http://www.uspto.gov/main/trademarks.htm for the US Trademark “Hire.Me” returned no results. Likewise, there is no US Trademark Number 00000000.
Per doMEn Sunrise Period rules, however, an applicant must submit a current trademark registered in the applicant’s name with identical textual or word elements on which the doman name is based.
Maybe Mr Jedda missed that part. It appears he also missed the ICANN requirement to provide accurate contact data. I don’t know about you, but I have never had any luck calling 000-000-0000. That’s the number he supplied for the registrant, admin and technical contact.
So, a highly valued domain name is currently in the hands of a creative individual, who may end up selling HIRE.ME to Monster.com, Jobbing.com or some other employment services giant.
Or will he? The .ME Registry states on its sites’ FAQ’s that “doMEn will engage the services of a trusted third party to audit the Sunrise applications to identify potential non-compliant applications.” Will they spot this glaringly obvious one?
Only time will tell.
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