Instant .kiwi uptake for New Zealand companies

Instant .kiwi uptake for New Zealand companies and individuals

Thousands of .kiwi domain names are activated in the fortnight after general release

15 May 2014 – New Zealanders around the world are now able to activate their .kiwi domain name. In the last fortnight almost 4,600 domain names have been activated, with more registrations coming in every hour.

On May 1, Dot Kiwi completed all its pre-registration periods mandated by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) and .kiwi domain names are now sold through leading domain name registrars and resellers. Once people purchase their favourite .kiwi domain names they can use them straight away.

.kiwi domain names have been bought by individuals, bloggers, non-profit organisations and companies all looking for a new way to represent their personality online. One of the most recent companies to adopt a .kiwi for their website is the Mad Butcher with www.madbutcher.kiwi.

Mike Morton, CEO of Mad Butcher, says the word Kiwi has come to represent New Zealanders all around the world and it’s not just about where we come from, it’s about who we are.

“Here at Mad Butcher we’re proud to be Kiwi. We’re about as Kiwi as they come and we’re part of everyday life for Kiwis. So it made sense to change our website to the only domain name that lets us show our Kiwiness online,” says Morton.

Tim Johnson, CEO of Dot Kiwi, says this sentiment has been echoed by Kiwi organisations and individuals around the world. A select few .kiwi domains have been live since February this year and as more people have seen them, there’s been an increase in interest.
“In the first ten minutes of general availability on the first of May 1,491 new domain names were registered. So it’s clear lots of people wanted to buy and activate their domain name straight away. So far around 80 per cent of domain names have been bought by organisations, but we are seeing more and more individuals buying domain names to use as their personal email addresses and websites,” says Johnson.

Gerard Campbell, blogger at www.gamejunkie.kiwi one of the first blogs to move to .kiwi, says “New Zealand might be a small country at the bottom of the world but we’ve forged a pretty strong identity with the Kiwi brand name, an identifier known around the world. Up until now, I haven’t had a website URL that truly describes who I am and what I’m proud of.”
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