Update 1 at 5:24AM EST:. After I posted this story, MacRumors pointed out that the iPhone4N.com Whois record raises questions as to whether Apple is really behind the registration. First, the registrar used was Go Daddy, not MarkMonitor (Apple’s usual choice). Guess we’ll have to wait and see if anything official is announced.
Original Story: Apple released the iPhone 4 in 2010 and the iPhone 4S in 2011. Now, all the talk is about Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5. But Apple did make an interesting domain name purchase this week: iPhone4N.com.
According to Whois records, Apple registered the domain on May 1, 2012.
It’s unknown why the company registered the domain name.
It may be nothing more than a defensive tactic to protect its intellectual property, except, a number of iPhone 4 variations like iPhone4Q.com and iPhone4W.com are still available for anyone to register at the time of this story.
Apple already owns the domains iPhone.com, iPhone4.com and iPhone4S.com. Apple got its hands on iPhone4S.com after filing a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization. Back in July 2011, Apple acquired iPhone4.com for an unknown amount of money. The company acquired the domain iPhone.com for an undisclosed amount in 2007. It’s rumored Apple paid over $1 million to acquire the name.
Talking about this story: BillHartzer.com
(Image of iPhone 4S via Apple.com)