Edible Apple

To combat domain squatting, which can unfortunately be a lucrative endeavor, Apple has shown an increasing interest in snatching up domain names that are even peripherally associated with its products. Following the unveiling of iOS 5 at this year’s WWDC event, for example, Apple acquired upwards of 50 new domain names such as macgestures.com, applemessaging.com and a whole lot more.

Recently, Apple curiously added a new domain to its stable – Applepico.com.

Originally discovered by MacRumors, Eric Silvka writes, “Given that the domain has been associated with MarkMonitor for many years, it is possible that Apple has owned the domain right along, but it is somewhat odd that the WHOIS listing was modified today to make Apple’s position as registrant publicly visible.”

So what gives?

The obvious answer centers on pico projectors which are handheld image projectors that some have previously speculated will eventually be integrated into smartphones. But Silvka brings up another possibility, albeit a much less exciting one.

A second possibility relates to Apple’s iPod line and is sparked by the fact that the domain was initially registered back in December 2005, just a few months after Apple released the iPod nano. At the time, Apple had been releasing increasingly small iPod devices and had just replaced the iPod mini with the iPod nano. Consequently, Apple could simply have been looking to preserve the possibility for a future “iPod pico” device if the company was indeed responsible for the initial registration of the domain name. Of course, if that were the case, Apple would presumably have been more interested in the ipodpico.com domain name, which was not registered until January 2007 and is not owned by Apple.

Much like how it’s not wise to give too much deference to Apple patent applications, we hesitate to read too much into this domain revelation, but it’s certainly something to keep in mind going forward.

On a somewhat unrelated note, check out this video of a jailbroken iPhone 3GS hooked up to a laser pico projector.