.im

.im

Introduced	1996
TLD type	Country code top-level domain
Status	Active
Registry	Domicilium
Sponsor	Government of the Isle of Man
Intended use	Entities connected with the  Isle of Man
Actual use	Personal domain names for Instant Messaging users, Instant Messaging web sites, trademarks and local Isle of Man businesses
Registration restrictions	None
Structure	Direct second-level registrations are allowed; some second-level domains such as gov.im are reserved for third-level domains representing entities in the Isle of Man
Dispute policies	Available here
Website	www.nic.im
DNSSEC	no

.im is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Isle of Man. It is administered by the Government of the Isle of Man and managed on a day-to-day basis by Domicilium, an offshore Internet Service Provider based on the Isle of Man.

On July 1, 2006, .im registration was made available to anyone in the world, including one, two, and three letter domains directly under .im, which opens up the possibility of .im domain hacks. The domain has gained popularity among companies who produce instant messaging (IM) software with names registered by Adium, ejabberd, Coccinella, Meebo, Pandion, Pidgin, Peer, Prosody, Trillian, and Yahoo! among others. .IM is also used in German, French and Italian speaking countries (i.e. Germany, Austria, Luxemburg, Switzerland, France, Italy and part of Belgium) for Real Estate purposes (Immobilien in German, Immobilier in French, Immobiliare in Italian). .IM also sounds like the phrase "I'm" (short for "I am") in English. The abundance of available short names has also made the domain popular for personal use.

Currently, domain registrations cost £40.00 per year for domains of three letters or more, although they can be purchased much more cheaply through resellers. Premium domains with two character names are available for £495.00, and premium domains with one character names are available for £995.00.

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Wikipedia