Abdul Traya was just 17 years old when Apple’s lawyers threatened him with a lawsuit for registering the appleimac.com domain name.
The Calgary teen and budding entrepreneur had purchased the name in 1998, shortly after Apple released its wildly popular jelly-toned iMac machines. At the time, the domain was just another among the thousands Traya had already bought or sold through his website business.
Then a stern letter from Apple’s U.S. law firm arrived, setting in motion a series of events that would change Traya’s life.
Six months after Traya purchased the name for $150, Apple agreed to settle the dispute out of court.
Traya walked away with an undisclosed sum – an amount, he admitted, that was almost enough to retire on.
“Let’s just say that I’ve been well off since 1999,” Traya said.
He dropped out of Crescent Heights High School and then, bankrolled in part by the cash from the settlement, founded one of Canada’s first wireless Internet services.
More than 10 years later, and in the wake of the death of Apple founder Steve Jobs, Traya is thoughtful about his fleeting brush with notoriety.
“It took me (years) to realize how big it was,” said Traya. “But it was out of this world.”
Traya has operated WestNet wireless service since then, catering primarily to disgruntled Shaw and Telus customers with his low-cost wireless subscription service covering the city’s downtown.
It’s a niche business, especially with the prevalence of smartphones, but Traya says his operation is growing. He’s had to hire 14 people to assist him in the maintenance of his 300 or so routers scattered around the downtown and to manage the dayto-day calls from clients.
He’s grown a real business from the seeds of his settlement, but Traya dismisses the suggestion that he set out to make money from Apple.
“(It’s) based off hard work and creativity,” said Traya. “Not capitalizing on domain names.”
Still, there are those who do set out to make money from domains, said University of Calgary professor Tom Keenan.
“It’s called ‘cybersquatting,’ ” said Keenan.
“Often somebody is looking to profit,” said Keenan. “They think, ‘I’m going to grab that name and then some business is going to come along and buy it from me,’ and that does happen.”
Regardless of how it came about, Traya’s personal fortune is indisputably tied to the tech giant’s name. And this past week, the 29-year-old found himself thinking about the late Apple CEO, whose company threatened to sued him a decade ago.
“He was a visionary and a leader and a lot of people could learn from him,” Traya said.
mpotkins@calgaryherald.com
Article source: http://www.calgaryherald.com/technology/Business+grew+Apple+seeds/5526969/story.html. Creative Commons (CC)