Feb 10, 2009 : ME TLD Tops 200k Registrations

📅 February 10, 2009 - After less than a year of general availability, 200,000 .me top level domains have now been registered worldwide, making the country code top-level domain for Montenegro the fastest growing new ccTLD launch on record.

OpenDoor.me, registered in Fukuoka, Japan, was the name that pushed the registry portfolio to the new milestone, according to doMEn (domain.me), a Montenegrin joint venture created to expand the .me registry to a wider audience, whose partners include Afilias Limited (www.afilias.info), GoDaddy.com (godaddy.com 👉 Total Reviews: 81
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First introduced in April 2008, the .me Registry reduced the minimum requirement for a .me domain registration to one year in October, freeing registrants from their previous two-year commitment.

DoMEn reports that the .me domain extension has become popular in the US for both personal and business uses, however, it is also available and being actively registered in more than 181 countries including Canada, India, Australia, Israel, Spain, the Netherlands and its originating country, Montenegro. Currently, more than 100 registrars offer .me TLDs.

"The appeal for dot-ME domain names is truly global," the registry's executive director Predrag Lesic said in a statement. "Having hit 200,000 registered domains in a mere ten months signals to us that dot-ME is seen as a valuable online asset," adds Lesic. "The best part is there are still so many great names available, in every language."

While it is undeniable that many businesses are finding success with the .me domain, there has also been much skepticism over the value of the TLD. Little more than a month ago, Domain Name Wire's Andrew Allemann posted a blog in which he concludes that the cost to register a .me domain is a loss except for most businesses.

"As you know, I'm not a fan of .me. Yeah, it's a cute play on domains. But once ICANN releases new top level domains, .me will just be 'another domain.' A country code domain at that. .You, anyone?"

Worse, however, are cases where .me domains have sparked costly legal fees. This was the case when golf equipment company Ping lost a battle with domain owner Pingify Networks over the ping.me domain, which originally cost $12,500 in the .me sunrise auctions.