Rumor: Me.com bought by Apple?
Over the weekend, the rumor mills went crazy with reports that Apple had bought a new domain name from their registrar (Mark Monitor). The domain name in question: me.com, which would agree with previous reports of Apple re-branding their .Mac service as "Mobile Me."As we reported earlier it seems Apple is re-launching their .Mac service as an Exchange style service that might even be moving onto other mobile platforms as well as other OSes (including Windows).
As an additional reconfirmation of this rumor, the same tipster that told TUAW first about the .Mac refresh contacted us again to say that the rumors are in fact true. This is still solidly in the rumor category, but it is certainly shaping up to be an interesting WWDC.
[via MacRumors]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mike said 8:18AM on 6-02-2008
I'm due to renew on June 12... This is cutting it way too close for me. Exciting week next week.
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Anon said 8:41AM on 6-02-2008
If true let's hope that the new me.com IM service moves away from the clunky AIM protocol and onto XMPP.
After all XMPP is the standard for IM, and Apple already markets an XMPP server in their iChat server product.
Windows and Linux versions of iChat would also be appreciated. My little sister keeps harping on about why can't she do good quality audio and video chats with her Windows using morons... i mean friends. ;)
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Dale said 11:34AM on 6-02-2008
I don't really understand how AIM is "clunky", other than the fact it remains cool to hate AOL for hating's sake. It has its drawbacks, but if it were truly difficult to use or feature limited, it would not still be one of the most dominant instant messaging protocols in the western world.
I don't really see a port of iChat as a valuable use of Apple's development resources. It has vast competition from a variety of rival programs, and with no apparent trojan horse benefit, it seems entirely fruitless. At least with the Safari port, they got to ensure more web developers could test their sites and applications to be compatible with Macs and iPhones.
Granted, it does have some great A/V components, but even ignoring their reliance on the Core foundation, it would make more sense to reserve them as upsell features for Apple's own machines.
Christopher Price said 8:57AM on 6-02-2008
Let's clear things up here... this article is saying this is "all in the rumor mill".
We know Apple has control of Me.com
We know that .Mac was just changed to being a query-term, meaning, Apple can change its name easily... at any time.
We also know that the Mobile Me rumor started before the discovery of Me.com being controlled by Apple. I'd say that takes it squarely out of the rumor mill.
- Christopher Price
http://www.phonenews.com
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KeynoteKen said 9:44AM on 6-02-2008
It also says, and this is an actual quote from the article above,
"the rumors are in fact true"
Christopher Price said 10:07AM on 6-02-2008
So? The article contradicts itself:
"This is still solidly in the rumor category"
I was just laying out the facts, and pointing out that there wasn't much "rumor".
KeynoteKen said 11:04AM on 6-02-2008
If there's ANY uncertainty, it's a rumor. I doubt there's many that are willing to go on the record to call this FACT until after the whole story is known.
Or, is phonenews ready to go on the record to say that this is NOT a rumor and is indeed FACT?
Christopher Price said 11:26AM on 6-02-2008
PhoneNews.com doesn't cover Mac unless we're talking WWAN or iPhone. However, I would say that Mobile Me is a lock, I don't see it as a rumor, sorry. We have independent confirmation of three different factors. It would be like calling the iPhone a rumor on the eve of MWSF '07.
pcmaniac said 9:37AM on 6-02-2008
mobileme.com's nameservers are also set to markmonitor.com..
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Able-X said 10:21AM on 6-02-2008
mobileme? Seriously? That's as bad as the "My Documents" stuff we always hated in the windows world that they finally grew out of, now Apple is going the "me" way. Lame.
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gian said 10:38AM on 6-02-2008
Anyone consider the possibility of Apple launching a revised .Mac alongside Mobile ME, where the .Mac name doesn't change at all, and an ancillary service called Mobile ME is launched for Exchange users (Mobile Microsoft Exchange)?
Think about it.
Gian
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Dale said 11:36AM on 6-02-2008
You obviously missed out on the post saying the string "%@ is the new name of Apple’s online service (was .Mac)" was found in certain applications.
Vince said 12:18PM on 6-02-2008
That query could be used for either/or/both, depending on how it's used. Don't be too quick to make your decision.
christapher said 11:32AM on 6-02-2008
im going to be pissed if i have to change my email to @mobileme.com or @me.com. they both sound so early 90's .com start-up.
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harsh said 12:56PM on 6-02-2008
%@ = the service formally known as .mac
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Rick said 12:59PM on 6-02-2008
Not that it's particularly evidentiary, but the email SOA is set to eddingsk.apple.com
and...
the "Registrant" of apple.com is eddingsk@apple.com
Just some more fodder for the rumor mill
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macsruletheworld said 2:47PM on 6-02-2008
A simple WHOIS returned this:
Registrant:
DNStinations, Inc.
303 Second Street
Suite 800N
San Francisco, CA 94107
US
Domain Name: ME.COM
Administrative Contact , Technical Contact :
DNStinations, Inc.
admin@dnstinations.com
303 Second Street
Suite 800N
San Francisco, CA 94107
US
Phone: 415-531-9335
Record expires on 22-Aug-2015
Record created on 10-Dec-2003
Database last updated on 21-Dec-2007
Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.MARKMONITOR.COM 64.124.69.50
NS2.MARKMONITOR.COM 64.124.69.52
NS3.MARKMONITOR.COM 217.68.151.240
NS4.MARKMONITOR.COM 217.68.151.241
Current Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
IP Address: 38.99.83.2 (ARIN & RIPE IP search)
IP Location: US(UNITED STATES)-DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA-WASHINGTON
Record Type: Domain Name
Server Type: Apache
Lock Status: clientTransferProhibited
Web Site Status: Active
DMOZ no listings
Y! Directory: see listings
Secure: No
E-commerce: No
Traffic Ranking: 4
Data as of: 22-Apr-2008
DNStinations.com was parked by GoDaddy. A WHOIS of It Turns up with:
Registrant:
DNstination, Inc.
303 Second Street
Suite 800N
San Francisco, California 94107
United States
Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: DNSTINATIONS.COM
Created on: 20-Apr-07
Expires on: 20-Apr-10
Last Updated on: 08-Apr-08
Administrative Contact:
Administrator, Domain admin@dnstinations.com
DNstination, Inc.
303 Second Street
Suite 800N
San Francisco, California 94107
United States
4155319335
Technical Contact:
Administrator, Domain admin@dnstinations.com
DNstination, Inc.
303 Second Street
Suite 800N
San Francisco, California 94107
United States
4155319335
Domain servers in listed order:
NS45.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
NS46.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Registry Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Registry Status: clientRenewProhibited
Registry Status: clientTransferProhibited
Registry Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Just thought I'd provide these tidbits of information for fellow speculators.
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macsruletheworld said 3:02PM on 6-02-2008
In reference to my prior comment, www.markmonitor.com, where the Name Servers point registered www.apple.com. Don't believe it? Look at the WHOIS:
Domain Name: apple.com
Status: clientDeleteProhibited, clientTransferProhibited, clientUpdateProhibited
Registrar: MARKMONITOR INC.
Whois Server: whois.markmonitor.com
Referral URL: http://www.markmonitor.com
Expiration Date: 2009-02-20
Creation Date: 1987-02-19
Last Update Date: 2007-07-16
Name Servers:
nserver.apple.com
nserver.asia.apple.com
nserver.euro.apple.com
nserver2.apple.com
nserver3.apple.com
nserver4.apple.com
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