.im
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Introduced | 1996 |
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TLD type | Country code top-level domain |
Status | Active |
Registry | Domicilium |
Sponsor | Government of the Isle of Man |
Intended use | Entities connected with the Isle of Man |
Actual use | Personal domain names for Instant Messaging users, Instant Messaging web sites, trademarks and local Isle of Man businesses |
Registration restrictions | None |
Structure | Direct second-level registrations are allowed; some second-level domains such as gov.im are reserved for third-level domains representing entities in the Isle of Man |
Documents | |
Dispute policies | Available here |
Website | Isle of Man Domain Registry |
.im is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Isle of Man. It is administered by the Government of the Isle of Man and managed on a day to day basis by Domicilium, an offshore Internet Service Provider based on the Isle of Man.
On July 1, 2006, .im registration was made available to anyone in the world, including one, two, and three letter domains directly under .im, which opens up the possibility of .im domain hacks. The domain is becoming popular with companies who produce instant messaging software with names registered by Pidgin, Yahoo! Messenger, Meebo, Coccinella, Trillian, and portal.im among others. The abundance of available short names is also making the domain popular for personal use.
Currently, domain registrations cost £40.00 per year for domains of three letters or more, although they can be purchased more cheaply through resellers. Premium domains with two character names are available for £495.00, and premium domains with one character names are available for £995.00.