CNET.com just published a post on the new gTLD’s.
In a pretty fair and balanced article, it presents both sides of the new gTLD argument quoting those who believe the new gTLD’s will be a game changer:
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“It completely changes the landscape of the Internet and how future commerce will happen on the Internet. “Now a company can have a dot-brand and deliver more personalized and individual Web services to people. For example, a major consumer products company can have .anheuser-busch, and can have all its products–budweiser.anheuser-busch, michelob.anheuser-busch, corona.anheuser-busch. A banking company could take it one step further [by offering] each one of its customers a dedicated domain, so when they’re doing banking on the Internet, they would have their own secure domain.”
And quotes those who think that the .com extension will be king for a long time:
“If you look at examples like .museum, .info, and .biz., you’ll find the growth rate in general has been average across the entire top-level domain base,” Wolak said. However, .com addresses still command a price premium: “On the secondary market for domain names, the names that are getting the highest dollar amount are still primarily with .com.”
“And even though companies might see opportunities in new GTLDs, they’d have to retrain Web users, reverse .com momentum, and potentially undermine existing brand investments, said Toby Southgate, managing director of The Brand Union, a branding firm. “Particularly with higher profile or global brands, consumer expectation and even assumption would steer towards a .com suffix,” he said. “This won’t be supplanted as the de facto global domain name.”
The article also contains a good explanation of the new extensions in easy to read language.
No matter your feelings on the issue, the new gTLD’s are coming maybe as many as 1,000 per year, and as soon as 2012.
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No matter your feelings on the issue, the new gTLD’s are coming maybe as many as 1,000 per year, and as soon as 2012.
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just creates more confusion for the consumer and reinforces the .com – not to say there wont be a quick buck to be made by those selling to suckers new to the Internet.
exactamundo brian… why don’t they get it. you’re not buying space on the internet… you’re buying space in people’s heads.
True, and who knows at what price…upwards of $200,000.