The first of hundreds of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) began rolling out this week, and it should be no surprise that Apple is looking to protect names related to its products and brands. Among this initial batch of gTLDs being released, Apple has already secured several domains in the ".guru" family, presumably due to its similarity to Apple's "Genius" naming for the company's in-store support staff and recommendation features in its digital stores.
Domains in the .guru family that have already been registered by Apple and pointed to the company's name servers include:
- apple.guru
- iphone.guru
- ipad.guru
- mac.guru
Several others including appletv.guru, macbook.guru, and ipod.guru are currently blocked from registration, presumably at Apple's request.
The new domains registered by Apple are not yet active, although at some point the company may choose to redirect them to either its general home and product family pages or support pages. Some browsers with unified search and URL bars, including Apple's own Safari, have also yet to be updated to recognize the new domains as URLs. Safari currently directs such entries to searches rather than attempting to access the addresses themselves unless the HTTP protocol is specifically included in the text entry.
Apple routinely moves to protect domain names associated with its business, and the rapidly increasing number of gTLDs is only complicating that effort. Among the most notable expansions, Apple in 2012 applied for control of a new ".apple" top-level domain through a program that appears to still be in progress with Apple having passed initial review last June.
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