The first iPad domain iPad.de is about to go off at auction over at Sedo and so far the price is a little over $7000 with about 20 hrs to go. The owners , DomainFactory of Germany are pretty experienced domain owners with 314,000 names in their portfolio so they knew the time is right to get top dollar for the name.
I think it’s a good move getting rid of the domain. It’s one of those cases where you are going to get mad traffic but if you try and monetize it with anything Apple you will soon find yourself in a lawsuit. That essentially means no parking. This also leads to the problem that you can’t sell what the type-in traffic came looking for. So they are doing what I’d do. Take the money and run. Some would say just wait and strike a deal. But what if Apple wants to just wait and watch to see if you mess up and put up an iPad ad? Then you get lawyer fees.
DomainFactory got lucky and they’re cashing in their ticket. What would you do?
Smart move DomainFactory.
Now is the time to cash in since the iPad (call it) word is a trademark
I’m with you Shane – the iPad domains are GREAT for re-sale but domain owners should be VERY careful if they try to monetize them – one lawsuit and an incredible opportunity can be turned-into an expensive legal battle.