This should be taken as nothing much more than a rumor, but recent domain name registrations hint at a new player in the browser, search and app space: Ajax.org’s Cloud9.
On Friday July 22, eight domain names were registered at MarkMonitor that used the word ‘Cloud9’ and ‘CloudNine’ in the name. MarkMonitor is a brand protection company used by over half of the Fortune 100 businesses.
Cloud9, for those that may not know, is a development-as-a-service for Javascripters and other developers founded in 2010 that has received millions in venture capital.
This is only speculation that Cloud9 is behind the registrations, because the owner of each of the domain names is hidden behind DNStination, a Whois privacy service.
Here’s a look at each new registration:
http://whois.domaintools.com/cloud9application.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/cloud9browser.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/cloud9browsing.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/cloud9searching.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/cloudnineapplication.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/cloudninebrowser.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/cloudninebrowsing.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/cloudninesearching.com
I’ve reached out to Cloud9 for comment and will update this post if I hear back.
Cloud9 Analytics, Inc, is another possibility, but less likely since the company focuses on sales forecasting and pipeline management applications.