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Dot kiwi URL flies as top-level domain name

New Zealand companies looking for a slice of that sweet, sweet Kiwiana can now show off their Zillund-ness with a .kiwi internet domain name. For instance idealog.kiwi instead of idealog.co.nz. The generic top-level domain (gTLD) has been given approval by the world wide web naming authority ICANN.

Registrations for the .kiwi address are expected to begin in August and initially limited to trademark holders in order to secure brand names before cyber squatters have the chance to camp on them. Following this, the domain suffixes become available on the market for $25 plus the margin added by registrars such as Dot Kiwi Limited, which kicked off the whole thing by petitioning ICANN for the gTLD in April 2012.

"We've seen the Internet evolve from a place for sharing mostly official or academic information to one that is the cornerstone for connection and communication around the world. Kiwis the world over will be able to choose email addresses and websites ending in .kiwi which we believe has great appeal," says chief executive Tim Johnson.

To put across a mantra of .kiwi for Kiwis, Johnson says around 10 percent of the domain sales revenue will go towards a charitable trust set up by the company to distribute funds towards the Christchurch rebuilding effort.

The .kiwi domain suffix competes with InternetNZ's similarly named .kiwi.nz, which could possibly cause confusion in the market.

What do you think of the .kiwi domain? Would you recommend it for yourself or client or steer away from it?

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