Is .Com Dying a Thousand Deaths?

By Duane J. Higgins, ceo
xtradot.com

There's a common refrain heard around the domain name kingdom regarding .com domain names and most domainers already know exactly what I am going to say next. That is that "Dot Com is King."

Of course nowadays there's more than good reason to question this premise. With ICANN (The Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers) about to release upwards of 1000 new domain extensions to the marketplace. Some of the new projected extensions may be .web, .shop, .site, .home, .music, .books etc. 

Dot com is of course far and away the most popular of the domain extensions and most versatile. There is now the big question of whether any of the new extensions will ever match the popularity (or universal value) of the .com extension or dare I say overtake it?

For a brief breakdown of the domain name registration numbers please humor me in posting the following facts:

According to a Verisign industry brief released April 2013:

"The fourth quarter of 2012 closed with a base of more than 252 million domain name registrations across all Top-Level Domains (TLDs)." The base of country code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDS) was 110.2 million domain names.

Without getting too much into numbers there are approximately 20 different TLDs available that are not country codes. (such as .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, .tv, .edu, .gov, .mil, etc.) There are probably at least 200 country specific TLDs (ccTLSs) available for registry. According to Verisign .com and .net TLDs reached a combined total of approximately 121.1 million domain names. Approximately 100 million for the .com extension. 

Ok, now I got that out of my system. Back to my original question. Will any domain name extension (or extensions) ever overtake .com or rival it in dominance?

The answer to that is no and I'll tell you why. There is one reason and one reason only that .com will never be knocked from its lofty pedestal as the king of the Internet. That is that .com had too much of a head start. A twenty year (running) head start to be more exact. Twenty years as king of the hill and that is an eternity in Internet years. .Com is thoroughly ingrained into the psyche and consciousness of the Internet-going public. The consciousness of society if you will.  Consciousness that is hard to quantify and  explain and yet all too real. That is the seat of .com. That is where .com lives.

.Com is just too far ahead. Think light years and not numbers. How do you catch a comet that is traveling at the speed of light and is already a million light years ahead? The answers is that you don't. 

.Com is the king and everyone else will be the pursuers. The new domain extensions will be the pursuers and they will remain the pursuers. Because the pursuers are always behind. Not a bad thing and certainly not a knock on the new extensions. Just a fact of life that the new extensions will deal with.

The final analysis is that .com is and will remain king. .Web, .shop, .site, .app, .home (and 1000 others and possibly more) are and will remain subordinates. Underlings if you will. Of lesser rank or authority. They will never catch up. They will not catch .com. Dot com is etched in stone and the rest in chalk.

.Com  is king and long live the king.