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People are storming to the internet to register Cloud domains

storm clouds

The long awaited “official” confirmation that Apple had indeed acquired iCloud.com from Xcerion has begun another internet land rush for cloud domain names, a prediction made by many in 2010 that has now come true.

Individuals and organizations have been finding available ‘cloud’ domain names that show interest is on the rise.

On May 29, 2001, according to the website DomainTools, 185 new ‘cloud’ domains were registered. 

By May 31, that number rose to 256 new registrations a day, including several “icloud” domain names such as icloudupload.com, icloudreview.net, icloudmeme.com, and over a dozen more.

To get an idea of the names people are buying, here’s the list of names from May 31.

[UPDATE:  June 2nd, 2011 4:13 AM EST:  According to DomainTools, on June 1, 2011 nearly 500 “cloud” domain names were registered — 448 to be exact.  A quick scan of the list shows that well over 100 of the names use the keyword “icloud”.]

[Photo of the storm clouds via Wikimedia]

Categories
News

Hot Trends: Cloud domain names in 2011

cloud computing

A lot of writers are predicting hot trends for 2011 and one trend in particular that seems to stand out among many of the stories is “cloud computing”, a term that refers to accessing computer services over the internet or “cloud”.   The terms internet and cloud are interchangeable. 

Google Docs is a well known example of a cloud computing service.

While some critics say cloud computing is overhyped, it’s hard to argue against it with major service providers like Google and SalesForce.com taking to the cloud.  Earlier this month, SalesForce.com unveiled Database.com, the enterprise cloud database. 

Domain bloggers Andrew Allemann of Domain Name Wire and Mike Sullivan of Sully’s Blog have written about the Cloud.com domain.  The domain Cloud.com was purchased earlier this year by VMOps after it was put up for sale by Meetup Co-founder Scott Hieferman. 

Back in September, Peter Ulander, Chief Marketing Officer at Cloud.com (formerly VMOps) spent time answering Mike Sullivan’s questions on the domain and the business, which Mike posted online.  According to Peter Ulander, the decision to acquire the name has been paying dividends with traffic: “While I can’t share the specific volume, we are pleased with the increase in traffic since launching under the cloud.com domain.  Our core traffic increased by more that 500% and, when compared to similar companies in our space, we are outperforming them on inbound traffic and time spent on site – meaning that we are hitting the decision makers in our space.”

Will Cloud domains be a hot trend in 2011?

Though the price of Cloud.com remains undisclosed, there were dozens of domain sales in 2010, with many looking to be bargain buys.  It will be interesting to see whether any of these names end up selling for a bigger return in 2011. 

 

Domain
Date Sold Price Location
cloud-computing.de Aug 4,2010 $38,280.00 Sedo
cloud-computing.de Sep 11,2010 29000 Sedo.com
cloud.me Sep 11,2010 $22,500.00 Sedo.com
cloudcomputing.com.au 2010 $8,000.00 NetFleet.com.au
cloudcomputing.in 2010 $5,000.00 PvtSale
cloudbot.com 2010 $4,000.00  
cloudcraze.com 2010 $4,000.00  
cloudexchange.com Sep 11,2010 $3,900.00 Sedo.com
cloudcomputing.info Sep 13,2010 $3,500.00 Sedo.com
cloudbook.de 2010 $3,075.00  
publicclouds.com Sep 17,2010 $3,000.00 Sedo.com
clouddb.com Sep 13,2010 $3,000.00 Sedo.com
cloudgames.com Sep 11,2010 $3,000.00 Sedo.com
myclouds.com Sep 11,2010 $3,000.00 Sedo.com
cloudtree.net 2010 $3,000.00 Sedo
cloudgames.net Sep 15,2010 $2,500.00 Sedo.com
instantclouds.com Sep 11,2010 $2,500.00 Sedo.com
cloud.ly 2010 $2,500.00  
oncloud9.com Sep 13,2010 $2,300.00 Sedo.com
cloudsaas.com Sep 12,2010 $2,250.00 Sedo.com
becloud.com Sep 13,2010 $2,000.00 Sedo.com
cloudbook.net Sep 12,2010 $2,000.00 Sedo.com
cloudnine.org Sep 11,2010 $1,883.00 Sedo.com
cloudblue.com Sep 12,2010 $1,700.00 Sedo.com
cloud.be Sep 14,2010 1500 Sedo.com
cloudgames.co.uk Sep 11,2010 $1,500.00 Sedo.com
cloudside.com Sep 11,2010 $1,200.00 Sedo.com
cloud365.com Sep 21,2010 $1,000.00 Sedo.com
letscloud.com Sep 11,2010 $1,000.00 Sedo.com
vclouds.com Sep 24,2009 $1,000.00 Sedo.com

Do you own any cloud domains?  The only “cloud” name I own is CloudShapes.com, which I purchased on NameJet back in June 2008 after it had expired.