Dot Me Domain Names: It's All About Me, Yu See?

In keeping with the focus on user generated content from social MEdia sites, it could be that this new domain name may actually get legs and walk away with a target audience currently using .name domains. The headline here leads to the wikipedia entry for .me. The dot me domain is actually a country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) for Montenegro and in a twist that is almost too funny to be true ... well here is the Wikipedia explanation of how this came about:

This follows Montenegro's June 3, 2006 declaration of independence from Serbia and Montenegro, which used the code YU. The .me registry is operated by doMEn, which won a contract to do so after a bid process conducted by the government of Montenegro. In addition to declaring .me to be independent of .yu, a new .rs domain is to be deployed for Serbian use.

Wow! It's almost like the "Who's on First" sketch from Abbot and Costello and if you haven't seen that - here ya go!

Well now that we've had our fun. Let's learn a bit more about the sale of .me domains. It is currently not a live domain and is in what is known as the "Landrush" phase of sales in which you can put in your bid for $49 if nobody else bids for your .me domain until June 26, 2008, which followed the "Sunrise" period where trademark holders could buy domains first for $100 each.

On July 17, 2008 we reach the "GoLive" stage where anyone can purchase any unclaimed .me domain names. If you bid on a domain during "Landrush" and someone else bids on the domain you request, the bidders enter an auction in which the highest bidder pays that amount PLUS the $49 to take the .me domain you compete to win.

All that make sense? You wanna buy me? No not me, you, wanna buy dot me domain names? Back to Abbot & Costello. ;-)