If you're into web publishing, then you know how important it is that you have a good domain name. Most people use either .com, .org, .net or .info, but the domain market expended to include everything from .xxx to .us. One of the recent domain releases was .app, an address that would be perfect for developers who want to make sure their software stands out. However, reports show that Google bought them all.
Business Insider reports that Google paid the Internet Corporation for Internet Names and Numbers (ICANN) more than $25,001,000 to own every possible .app domain possible. This is significantly more than anyone has paid for a Google address before. The most any one company has paid for a series of domains was more than $7 million for .tech, or or $6 million for .reality.
Google has been trying to acquire the series of .app domains since 2012. The tech company owns multiple unique collections of domains, including .soy, .dad, .android and .free. If users want to register their website under any of those domain collections, they will have to register it through Google's new domain registry.
It's unclear what Google plans to do with the addresses. The Cult of Android thinks that Google could use them as redirected links to send users to correlating Android apps. So, for example, Twitter.app would send users to the Twitter app in the Google Play Store. However, it's far more likely that Google will just sell the .app domains at a high price on its beta domain registry.
When Google replied to Business Insider's inquiries about the purchase, it sent the following message: "We've been excited and curious about the potential for new TLDs for .soy long. We are very .app-y with .how, at a .minna-mum, they have the potential to .foo-ward internet innovation."
