Now that’s using your noggin

Michael Kovatch was clever enough to buy the domain name iPhone.com … back in 1995. Apparently, his thinking at the time was not that Apple would eventually make what some have dubbed the “Jesus Phone,” but rather that Internet telephony would take off. And now, after selling iPhone.com to Apple, he’s a millionaire. But Kovatch ...

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600806_kevinham_05.gif

Michael Kovatch was clever enough to buy the domain name iPhone.com ... back in 1995. Apparently, his thinking at the time was not that Apple would eventually make what some have dubbed the "Jesus Phone," but rather that Internet telephony would take off.

Michael Kovatch was clever enough to buy the domain name iPhone.com … back in 1995. Apparently, his thinking at the time was not that Apple would eventually make what some have dubbed the “Jesus Phone,” but rather that Internet telephony would take off.

And now, after selling iPhone.com to Apple, he’s a millionaire.

But Kovatch is just a rank amateur compared to Kevin Ham. Ham, a retired Canadian doctor and the owner of both God.com and Satan.com, rakes in an estimated $70 million per year from the 300,000 domains he owns. One of Ham’s most brilliant schemes has been squatting on “.cm” Web addresses, which correspond to Cameroon but are just a typo away from “.com”. And so, Ham—in a partnership with Cameroon’s government—owns nytimes.cm, Beer.cm, and others, which redirect to Agoga.com. It’s a hell of a way to earn a living.

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