Weeks after the launch of its Sunrise period, Google’s .APP domain has displayed a great start with 2225 names already in the zone file. With this strong initial, industry analysts foresee these figures increasing for an nTLD that places security and privacy as its key tenets.
According to Google, the .APP domain have witnessed registrations from Apple, Microsoft and Bank of America with 75, 41 and 27 domains respectively. They also believe that similar companies will follow suit given the spurt in registrations.
Google say that their strategy to prioritize security by rolling out HTTP Strict Transport Security helped maximize .APP registrations. Speaking about their intention to guarantee security for .APP registrants, a spokesperson for Google commented:
Registrants receive guaranteed protection for themselves and their users simply by choosing a secure TLD for their website and configuring an SSL certificate, without having to add individual domains or subdomains to the HSTS preload list.
Adding an entire TLD to the HSTS preload list is also more efficient, as it secures all domains under that TLD without the overhead of having to include all those domains individually.
Google confirmed that during the sunrise period, only trademark holders that have registered with the Trademark Clearing House (TCH) have registered domain names. They also believe that the number of registrations for .APP will rise after organizations are cleared by TCH.
In closing, Google added that there will be a dutch auction following the sunrise period from 1st of May and general availability from 8th of May.