New
Generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs)
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN.org) has
approved the introduction od additional gTLDs (beyond the traditional .com,
.net, and .org). www.gtld.com has up-to-date information on this proposal.
These are meant to alleviate the pressure on the diminishing number of
available .coms, particularly among companies with similar names that were
shut out of theirname.com.
The eventual value of these names is quite uncertain. Most observers predict
that .com will retain its premium value as the standard TLD. The other TLDs
will be valued at some discount to .com.
Some predict that the TLDs are analogous to New York telephone numbers.
Traditionally, the 212 prefix carried significant prestige, and many 212
businesses were very unhappy to see their phone numbers forcibly changed to
718 or other prefixes when New York subdivided its phone area codes.
