New personalized me domains pass the 100K mark as the hot new destination for Web addresses

The .ME Registry today announced it has registered more than 100,000 domain names. This milestone comes a little more than two weeks after opening for live, real-time registrations by the general public and less than four months after opening its doors.

"We believe the huge demand for .ME reflects the publics interest in having a personal connection with the Web," said Predrag Lesic, the registry’s executive director. "From interesting topics, to organization names, to brands, .ME sites give personality to the content on the Web sites associated with them."

ME has seen its greatest interest from English speaking countries including the United States (71%), the United Kingdom (6%), Canada (4%), and Australia (2%).

More than a thousand auctions are currently open for popular .ME domains, with the highest bid over $32,000 so far. Auctions for .ME have been extremely popular, with some of the top completed auctions to date including lasvegas.me for $15,105, chatwith.me for $15,035 and picture.me for $10,240. There are still many active Land Rush auctions taking place at http://Auctions.Domain.Me with insure.me leading the field right now with a current bid of $37,560.

"The number of individuals participating in .ME auctions, combined with the high sales values indicates brand owners and investors clearly understand the domain’s potential," added Lesic.

Information on the release of premium .ME names via auction is expected in the coming months.

The domain registration process for .ME began in May with the Sunrise period for trademark holders. Land Rush for the general public to register names began in June. In total more than 30,000 applications were received in the Sunrise and Land Rush periods.