Google’s .App launch brought visibility to new top level domains.
It’s been a while since a top level domain name launch caught mainstream attention but Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) launch of .App made waves in 2018.
Perhaps it’s because it is a great string. (Google paid $25 million to acquire rights to the domain.) Perhaps it’s because Google was behind it. Whatever the reason, .app took off.
People registered 7,500 domains during early access. Over 100,000 domains were registered within a day of general availability in May. As of the end of the year, there were over 350,000 registrations.
All of this happened despite two potential roadblocks to registering .app domains. First, there was no heavy discounting. Second, an SSL certificate is required to use a .app domain name.
The SSL is required because .app is on the HSTS preload list. This makes it tricky to park .app domains, but some people came up with solutions to this.
Buying an existing .app domain can be tricky, too. Even before GDPR took effect Google had already obscured Whois records, making it impossible to figure out who owns a .app domain.
Google subsequently launched .page but that domain hasn’t cracked 10,000 registrations.
It will be interesting to see what happens when Google launches .Dev in early 2019.
I’ve lowered my .App domain prices for a limited time on Sedo.com.
List of names can be found at NameSelling.com/app-names.
Lots of one-word .App domains for sale.
Google schmoogle. I don’t care who is behind it. Like gravity, it is a basic law of the universe that non .coms are destined to fail.
LOL, what an ignorance…
I was lucky to sell foodtruck.app in 4 months for 5k…considering I got it for like 80, not bad..still shopping surgery and surgeon as well as carpet
Troll didn’t sell food truck dot app for five dollars. Lying hipster.
uhhh…yes I did you complete db$g….I’d be happy to show u the receipt..is it possible to put attachments on here? I work for GD you clown..sorry u never actually have sold a domain but have likely wasted thousands lol…why would I lie about that?? like I said, it was luck..I was actually working and talking with a client when I got an email stating it sold. besides, its public info..look it up
250,000 of .app domain names were registered in May, 2018: https://dofo.com/search/?extension=app&cdate=20180501-20180531
Also, there are about 40,000 .app domain names for sale: https://dofo.com/search/?on_sale=y&extension=app
.app has taken off because it makes sense as a TLD. I don’t see .dev doing anywhere close to .app.
Also the premium pricing on .app domains is brutal from an investment perspective.
It’s hardly “taken off”, I’d imagine the numbers are well under Google’s expectations.
.app began as an imitation, therefore it will always be
of what?
.mobi
I picked up 3 premium key word .app domains. Zero inquiries unlike after .me and .ai launches. You could buy in auction a .me domain for 5 k and flip it for 25 k a month later. I still like extension but 90 percent of offers are for .com
I bet most .app purchases are from overly optimistic domainers and also companies purchasing them defensively to protect their .com investments. Of the measly dozen aftermarket sales reported at Namebio.com, only a few are live and only one is an active site. The hype behind .app was impressive, but the aftermarket is non-existent. Progressive web app tech allows any website to function like an app, so the .app extension is redundant. I can see a startup with a limited budget using .app, but I personally wouldn’t think of using an .app domain without the matching .com, given the traffic bleeding and related security vulnerability. I’m interested to see how many of these initial registrations are dropped in 2019 and how much new registrations drop off. I personally registered four .app domains as defensive registrations for one-word .coms I own and I will be dropping all four.
I bought two – 2 letter .apps – $1,000 renewal after zero offers will be tough to swallow.
I was lucky to sell foodtruck.app in 4 months for 5k…considering I got it for like 80, not bad..still shopping surgery and surgeon as well as carpet
holding a few nice .apps like nice.app (no puns intended) and os.app,
As a long time Internet business owner / developer, I do believe .app is the next .com, especially with my own very optimistic view on PWA webapp tech.
Just gotta have the patience.
It was a painful lesson learned dropping some very valuable .coms because of lack of patience some years ago.
I have an .app developing with a computer engineer.
Back to my roots, before being Domainer I was an AI and VR researcher.
Happy Day. Jose.