Google has purchased the website domain .app in an auction held by the organisation which oversees the running of the net. The firm’s winning bid for $25,001,000 is believed to be the highest so far. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) is rolling out customised web names and auctioning them.
Other web address endings sold so far include .baby, .tech, .salon and .VIP. The suffixes are known as generic Top Level Domains (gTLD). In its bid application, Google-owned company Charleston Road Registry Inc says its plan is that the domain will be used by developers of apps.
"The proposed gTLD will provide application developers with the ability to customise domain and website name application offerings to signal to the general population of internet users that .app websites are indeed related to applications and application developers," the firm writes.
"This specialisation 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."