EBlog

.ME domain names go on sale today. A second gold rush?

July 17, 2008 | Posted by: Nicholas

At 8AM PDT time, registrars around the world will begin to sell .ME domain names to the public on a first-come, first-served basis. That is, domain names such as www.youand.me and the like. There are a few thoughts that this brings to my mind.

Will this spawn a .ME domain name gold rush? Everyone jumping to get clever "phrase" names like pick.me, quitfollowing.me, etc?

The second, bigger question, concerns established brands. Will, for instance, Microsoft get microsoft.me (they almost have to get windows.me, right?)? Will we be seeing cocacola.me used for Coca Cola's new social network "just for Coke lovers!"?

Which then leads me to the third, and most overarching question regarding these domain names? Do they really matter? Are they actually going to get used by companies and major brands? Or will the just be bought up by domain name speculators?

With the $19.99 "estimated" price GoDaddy is charging for these domains, they seem to think all of the answer to the above questions is,"yes." They normally charge around eight bucks for a regular .com domain.

So, what do you think? Would you buy a .me domain for your business? For a campaign? Sound off in the comments.