A Nielsen Wire blog post broke the news that for the first time Android mobile phones (powered by Google) have outsold the iPhone in the United States this year.  In fact, Android sales are really heating up worldwide with almost a 900% increase in sales from a year ago.  I think that the power of branding with Google on your side is a real plus as more mobile customers make the move to more web capable smartphones.  Many new customers are also coming from the annoyed Blackberry customers who are making the switch to a device better suited for apps and browsing, not just email.

Companies that have embraced partnerships with Android are also seeing big their investments pay off in spades.  For instance Motorala’s HTC really got a boost when they decided to start producing Android devices.  Mobile service providers like T-mobile and Verizon in the U.S. are seeing lot’s of new customers attracted to their service because they want an Android phone.

I will say that I am very happy to have gone with Android myself. I am going on the third year with the original device (G1).  It’s funny that I am still discovering new features on my phone and really just now getting more into using apps.  I will say that I dread the day I have to replace this device with something that doesn’t have real keys.. I hate touchscreen keyboards.

After considerable speculation and discussion, Steve Jobs introduced the new Apple iPad today in a press conference that received much fanfare. The iPad is a device that is a new category of computing systems that bridges the gap between the iPhone smartphone and the Macbook laptop.

If history is an indication of the current situation, Apple is going to want the iPad.com domain name, just as they own iPhone.com and iPod.com.  iPhone.com was also privately held before Apple paid a great sum of money for it, and iPod.com has been owned by Apple for quite some time (since at least 2001 according to a Whois history search).

iPad.com has been a privately owned domain name since 1997. The current registrant (Administrative Contact) is a person with a New Jersey address named Martine Bejasa. They don’t have much on the front side of the website, although it’s quite possible there is information for clients of the owner, as there is a client log in on the home page. The owners will probably get a ton of traffic, which will be expensive for server maintenance.

If I were to advise  Martine Bejasa, I would recommend selling the domain name for the million dollar plus offer that will be sure to come from Apple. The name probably can’t be monetized by the current owner enough to justify passing on an offer in this range. In addition, there is no guarantee that the iPad is going to be a huge success, just as Apple TV has not taken off. If that’s the case, the domain name will probably be worth much less than its peak value today.

Now is  the best time to sell iPad.com, and I hope the owners and Apple are able to come to terms in the best interest of both parties.

Update:

As Bill Hartzer points out in the comments below, the domain name is registered to a company called Enero 6 Corp, translated to January 6 Corp.  Apple and Jobs always seem to have announcements right around that time, so it’s conceivable that the domain name was already acquired by the company.

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