Not just a few new names like the standard annual introduction that ushered in .info, .biz and the top country extensions (.uk), but this proposal would allow anyone (who can supply a $55,000 application fee) to create their own unique extension. Can you see sites like support.apple, store.apple and corporate.apple? What about entreprenuers and organizations who might try to create new standards like .band for musicians, .store for retailers or even .porn for, well…

In the twenty-plus years of the popular web, there have only been about 250 domain extensions introduced. And, only recently has anything but .com become commercially accepted by the masses, and that extension still has a near monopoly on commercially successful websites. But, the recent acceptance of .tv and .biz hint at what might happen as new generations come onto the web with increasing savvy. And trust me, entrepreneurs are tired of finding and buying parked domains from squatters, so there is certainly pent up demand.

It’s exciting to speculate on the impact.

Remember though, history has shown us that monopolies and entrenched cultural trends are uprooted not by one-up improvements, but by radical leap frogs. So, it’s likely that the .com extension will be unseated as the unquestionable commercial business identifier not by another domain extension, but by an entirely new way to access domain names.

For example, the days of dialing phone numbers from memory have all but vanished. Instead, we scroll through a list of contacts and speed dial someone in our address book. Many people are already championing a similar approach to websites.

We already use search engines and bookmarks to find much of the sites we visit on the web. Maybe the value of a domain is already on the decline?

Definitely something to consider before you make that five or six figure offer for that domain name you’ve got your eye on.