And it’s tracking it, too: Apple begins forwarding iPad3.com to its web site

Apple smartly measures traffic to recently recovered domain name.

Late last month Apple filed a cybersquatting complaint over the domain name iPad3.com. Shortly following filing the complaint the owner of the domain acquiesced, giving the domain to Apple’s lawyers Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton.

For a while following the transfer to Apple’s lawyers the domain didn’t resolve at all. Now it forwards to the iPad page on Apple. Here’s the full URL I’m forwarded to when I enter the web address:

https://www.apple.com/ipad/?cid=oas-us-domains-ipad3.com

Notice the tracking code following the question mark? That means Apple is tracking the traffic it gets from this domain. It also means the firm can determine what visitors who type in iPad3.com ultimately do at the site. Do they buy an iPad?

This information will help Apple in future domain name enforcement activity.

Tracking visitors from a recovered domain is surprisingly advanced for most firms. It’s amazing how few firms end up forwarding recovered domains to their own web site, let alone the right “part” of the web site. (Here, the iPad page instead of just Apple.com.) Heck, a good percentage of them end up letting recovered domains expire.