November 28, 2006 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) – Microsoft is now an ICANN approved domain registrar, it was revealed recently. The move gives the company the ability to sell domains to its customers. According to Internet monitor, Netcraft, the company has been reselling domain names from an Australian-based registrar called Melbourne IT – a company that provides wholesale domains to Yahoo and other web hosting providers.
The move has fueled a level of speculation with a suggestion the company might have taken the step of ICANN accreditation before selling domain names through its Office Live small business hosting service (which had a beta launch on November 15, 2006). Office Live offers a free domain name with each account.
As Netcraft point out, gaining ICANN accreditation does not mean a company is bound to sell domain names. Google is a registrar that does not sell domains, preferring instead to “use its status to focus on reducing spammy domains from its search results”. Amazon.com is another example of an ICANN accredited company that does not sell domains.
