New Zealanders Soon To Wave Their Digital Kiwi Flag

New Zealanders will soon be able to wave their digital kiwi flag and take pride in their ‘Kiwi-ness’ online.  ICANN recently approved the .kiwi (‘dot kiwi’) top level domain, which represents the nation, culture and people of New Zealand through their own beloved “kiwi” moniker.

Last week, Dot Kiwi’s CEO, Tim Johnson, was in Vancouver as part of a 17 city international road trip to promote the new .kiwi TLD. Tim was kind enough to have dropped by the HEXONET office to provided us with a brief update on what we can expect in the months ahead with the .kiwi TLD. Here are some of the highlights:

• Three years in the making, Dot Kiwi has signed their registry agreement with ICANN and will be one of the first new gTLDs to be launched in 2013. Tim has confirmed that we can expect to see premium names available towards the end of November, a sunrise period in mid-December, Landrush anticipated mid-February 2014, and general availability commencing in early April 2014!
• Dot Kiwi also launched their brand new website.
• As part of the launch, Dot Kiwi has developed a unique ‘pioneer program’ that consists of three components:
• 1. Launch Community: Individuals and organizations who show early interest in .kiwi, and are eager to promote their Kiwi-ness. Only a select few will have the opportunity to join the .kiwi Launch Community.
  2. Launch Partners: Organizations that want to associate with .kiwi domain early as well as actively promote .kiwi to their own customers at the .kiwi launch.
  3. Launch Champions: Organizations, personalities, or individuals with highly visible brands who have committed to change their online identities and presence to the .kiwi domain as well as adapting their branding and collateral to suit. To reward their deep commitment, Dot Kiwi is offering every Launch Champion the opportunity to launch their chosen .kiwi domain before everyone else.
• There are no restrictions to register a .kiwi domain!  With a population of 4.5 million and up to one million New Zealanders currently living overseas, the reach of .kiwi will be significant, both locally and internationally.
• Dot Kiwi has a charitable component to its business. Basically, for every domain name it sells, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the rebuilding of Christchurch, which was devastated by an earthquake in February, 2011
• Tim is of course not all work and no play…we found out that he also manages the New Zealand Bobsled team!

HEXONET is very excited to be able to offer this unique TLD to our resellers.  We wish Tim and his team the best of luck in the months to come.