The rise of the .me domain name
When it comes to top level domain names, some countries are luckier than others. Take the Pacific Ocean island of Tuvalu, for instance, which offers the attractive .tv for the broadcast media. Or Tonga, whose .to domain has spawned sites such as go.to and how.to.
However, the most fortunate of all in the name game is Montenegro. After separating from Serbia in 2006, the country gained .me – the perfect domain for the social media generation.
Predrag Lesic, executive director of the .me registry in Montenegro says:
“From the beginning it was clear that .me would have its share in the market.”
That share is now huge. Since going live in 2008, more than 320,000 names have been registered, making it the fastest selling debut top level domain ever.
“It’s short, personal and popular – with names like youand.me and whatabout.me. It’s being used more than ever as a call-to-action domain, for example notify.me.”
The domain’s popularity is partly down to its versatility across different languages, as the word “me” has a similar meaning in a number of languages. Even before the domain’s launch, Montenegro’s registrars were inundated with requests for names.
The landrush phase allowed people to register an interest in a domain, while the go-live phase – which started on 17 July 2008 – opened up the registry to customers worldwide.
“On the first day of the go-live period, we had 50,000 registrations. Companies like Microsoft and Samsung rushed to register their .me name.”
Some .me names are now being found on post-purchase auction sites for up to £10,000 each.
Tags: .me domain, domains, montenegro
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