Apple has registered its first COVID-19-related domain name as the total number of global confirmed cases inches towards 2 million this week. The iPhone-maker scooped up the domain name AppleCoronavirus.com but the site isn’t being put to use yet.
Photo: Cult of Mac
It appears that Apple registered Applecoronavirus.com the same day that it revealed its partnership with Google to create a Bluetooth privacy-focused contact tracing framework. The new domain was registered by CSC Digital Brand Services, which acts as a third-party to give the brands’ privacy and security protections.
Apple is listed as the registrant organization. The DNS has been pointed to Apple’s nameservers. The domain registration was first spotted by MacRumors.
It’s unclear how the domain name will be used or if Apple is just using it as a placeholder. The company owns hundreds of domain names that aren’t used but kept so that other parties can’t use them for nefarious purposes.
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
