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Google: 'We're Very .App-y' with Fat New Stack of Domain Names

The Mountain View giant just spent $25 million—a record—on the domain .app.

Google just dropped $25 million on three little letters, winning an auction for the exclusive rights to the domain .app.

The bid is the highest ever for a top level domain (TLD), a sought-after generic address like .com, .net, or a country code like .uk. The domain .app is the latest Google has purchased since the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization that oversees the domains of the internet first allowed the expansion of the number of TLDs in 2011.

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The decision allowed companies to purchase domains specific to their brand or product, and sparked a sort of internet gold rush, with corporations scooping up TLDs at high prices. In the past couple years, Google has applied​ for dozens of domains, including .meme , .how, and .here.

The practice has raised questions about internet policy and criticism of the US for dominating the governance of the internet. ICANN told Motherboard last year the organization has been working towards globalization.

"When we started, only 4 percent of the world was on the internet and half of it was in North America; now 40 percent of the world is on the internet and half of it is in Asia," Fadi Chehadé, president and CEO of ICANN said at the time. "I think governance of the internet needs to mirror where the internet is and where it's going."

.tech sold for just $6.7 million

The $25 million price tag is a steep jump from other domains auctioned off in recent years, including .tech, which sold for $6.7 million and .buy which sold for $5 million, according to Business​ Insider. ICANN is a non-profit.

But for Google, the .app domain is valuable, they said in a pun-riddled statement.

"We've been excited and curious about the potential for new TLDs for .soy long," a Google spokesperson told Motherboard by email. "We are very .app-y with .how, at a .minna-mum, they have the potential to .foo-ward internet innovation." (All those domains are also owned by Google.)

The company has not yet commented on specific plans for the domain, but in its application for the domain, it said .app is clearly the authoritative space where customers could find "applications," referring to mobile apps, which Google has expan​ded its focus into recently by piloting search ads in the Google Play Store.

"This specialized domain name space provides a mechanism by which application developers can easily link and manage their applications and related services," Charleston Registry Inc, a company owned by Google that manages its registry services, wrote in its applic​ation for the domain. "This specialization makes it clear to Internet users that this is the authoritative and designated space where they can find applications and information about developers accessible via differentiated and streamlined web addresses."