By Services For The . Net | Aug 16, 2009
The tiny Polynesian island nation of Niue is beginning to think it’s been had. Frankly, it’s clear they didn’t do their research before they did their deal.
Ironically, it seems the buyer hadn’t really done his, either. Anyone who has been inundated by advertisements for ‘global domains’ can easily understand that it’s a escalating business. The specter of purchasing a domain at a much better price than the more common ‘dot com’ or ‘dot net’ or ‘dot org’ is most attractive to most would-be entrepeneurs on restricted budgets. This niche’s market leader is most likely Global Domains International (GDI), which has no doubt put Western Samoa on the mental map of many a cybernaut. The key element in that deal is that the Western Samoan government granted the rights to GDI in return for a royalty for every domain sold.
Niue’s name is derived from the local language’s phrase for, “Look, a coconut!” It seems they should have used theirs more thoroughly before signing a domain deal with Bill Semich in 1998.
An American businessman whose former station was editor for a computer magazine, Semich recognized the potential value in the marketability of rare domains. Apparently finding the ‘nu’ extension an eye-catching letter arrangement, he signed a contract with the Niue government that gave him the exclusive rights to it.
It wasn’t a one-way deal. Semich assured free wireless access for all 2000 of Niue’s populace and he delivered, finishing the system of an island-wide set-up of translator towers in 2003. The country’s leaders surely felt they had provided their population with a service for the new century which would positively ensconce their place in island history.
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