Looks like Apple has done it again.
The company know for evolutionary products is also notoriously known for not obtaining the matching domain names to the product sometimes until well after the product has launched.
According to Patentlyapple.com, Apple has filed at lease two Patents on what is calling the iPen.
iPen.com is owned by someone in Istanbul Turkey.
The domain name iPen.com was first registered in 2005
The domain is currently going to a Godaddy.com placeholder and already has an Alexa Rank of just over 8 Million.
iPen.net is owned by someone in Madrid Spain and is parked.
iPen.org is actually used for a real site.
Apple recently gained control over iphone5.com by filing a UDRP with WIPO but this product is not going to enjoy such protection and Apple (AAPL) should have acquire iPen.com through a shell company well before filing for a patent and letting their plan’s for the next big product launch to hit the press.
The price they paid for iPhone.com was not disclosed, but there were reports at the time suggesting it to be in the region of $1 million dollars.
there it is a new product launch by steve cook with no more visionary leader jobs at the helm….following the same path ipen.I suspect this was in the apple pipeline long before the death of jobs though. so I’m sure cook doesn’t get all the credit. and as with the ipad.com apple will go into the market and grab the corresponding domain. It is also of note that when the iphone was launced it was stated it will not be named the iphone as there is already a company called the iphone with a reg tm and corresponding domain. Not one peep nationwide anywhere the next thing you know apple is in charge of the iphone.com tm and domain name.you never heard what happened to the old iphone company,tm,owner or domain name.it was just unveiled and the rest is jobs history…no matter how you slice it jobs will be missed cook is no visionary he is a operational expert.the only individual close enough to replace steve jobs.
@domainguy- don’t bet on it
Cook consistently pays homage to the legacy of Jobs, but he doesn’t apologize for charting a new course. He seems, at the end of the day, to be honoring one of Jobs’ dying requests: that Apple’s management not ask “What would Steve do?” and instead do what’s best for Apple.”
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/05/24/apple-tim-cook-ceo/?iid=Popular
re: iPhone trademark issues. In the late 1990s, we had Cisco IP phones in the office at work which I’m sure Cisco branded as “i Phone”.
Hmm, it could be that it’s not a great concern of theirs to secure the .coms of all of their products. After all, pretty much everyone knows just to go to Apple.com for anything Apple related.
On a side note, I didn’t even know they owned iPhone.com, until I just tried it, and saw that it forwarded to Apple.com. While they do own other domains for their products like MacBookAir.com and MacMini.com, they don’t own MacBook.com, MacPro.com, iLife.com, MagicMouse.com, iPad.com, TimeCapsule.com, and I’m sure many others.
The idea for iPen is nothing new, apple have been looking at this for a while.
I watched the domain auction last year for this domain and no doubt that was the reason it was bought for $7k.
but I feel that Apple could easily have the iPen domain if they want it …
$1 million to apple for a domain is nothing, iPen.com will sell for $3 million plus.
Cheers
Probably will sell about $1 or $2 million unless there the company has a big project going on with the domain
the domain may have a big value since Apple seems want develop an innovative pen for its devices
telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/9290119/Apple-patents-advanced-stylus.html
apple might be buying all the versions of the domain for iPen (.com, .net, .org…) since every version makes up a lot of business coz of the similarity of the domain name..
I wish such mistakes happen with all the bigger brands, at least some other people get a chance to win jackpot..