In short, Yes.
(Not because it means more greens for us registry service providers).

Hear me out as a regular Joe on the Internet.

Currently there are 20 TLDs as mention here on ICANN’s website. Now that’s a more than a handful of TLDs for global consumers to pick and choose from. Obviously, the more popular ones such as .com , .net , and .org  has more penetration strength into markets mindset but what about the remaining unpopular TLDs? They have very low penetration into the main stream market and everyone’s defacto TLD is , of course , .com. One might argue, it has withstood the test of time. It’s been there even before ICANN was introduced. Before the dotCom boom and after the Internet bubble burst, it’s still there hence the credibility. It will be there as long as the Internet requires domain names to operate.

Have a look at the domain statistics from domaintools.com. The .com volume has practically shredded the other registries to pieces.

When the draft was launch late last year, ICANN estimated over 500 applications to flood into the gates because corporation can start registering their own vanity TLD and protect their  trademarks. That created quite a hype and somewhere in the process, brand owners realized it’s going to be a very very expensive process all together.

It looks like it’s going to get more messy due to economy recession.

Even the US government has recently wrote a letter to ICANN about it’s demand on new the TLDs and how does it benefit the rest of the world. (It’s all over the Internet, google it and you’ll find abundant news about it or here and here pretty good write up). Now ICANN has to convince DOC all over again from step 1. Most likely, this will delay the gTLD process longer pushing it further back but thats beside the point.

Now if i were want to register a domain name on a .com, chances are, it’s already taken. Most likely I will need to jumble up some words together and hope it’s not taken yet. I will either have to resort to that or get a ccTLD extension , for my case, it would be MY. But unfortunately, it does not have the international appeal like how .com has or probably end up with a domain name like del.icio.us.

I’m sure i’m not the only one who face this conundrum. I’m sure you have as well.

Everyone wants a .com domain name only. Now here’s the problem. There is no uniqueness about .com anymore. Nothing stands out except only everyone wants it because the dude next to him wants it as well.

The new gTLD program is suppose to benefit us, the people.

Yes you’ll have domainers snap up good names quick but with the current registry trends, registry won’t be giving up “good” names without a premium price tag on it or at the very least auctioning the names. At least, there is a chance for you to compete for the name.

Yes you’ll have brand owners who screams now they have to spend more protecting their brand. Blame the game not the players right?

Yes you’ll have individuals who patronize the idea that it confuses the mass public. Is it seikoasia.com or seiko.asia?

Yes you’ll probably have to register the domain name at several various registry just to make sure visitors are directed to the right website.

But having new gTLDs creates more flavor. Besides vanilla, you have chocolate. Choices. Options.

To be frank, I’m all in with geo TLDs and community based TLDs. I think it’s brilliant idea and it will be successful in cities who has strong Internet presence. Having dotBerlin , dotParis and dotNYC will only strengthen the city visibility in the eyes of the world. It upgrades the city status to be on the same level as their respective ccTLD. It allows the mass Internet audience to zoom down

Look at .Asia . Corporate brands especially in Asian or targets Asian market have begun to include .Asia domain names into their marketing strategies. The brand name no longer ends with .com but this time, it ends with .asia. Corporate brands who localize into regional markets begins to realize this. It matters when someone sees a domain name ends with a geographic TLD. It sets the expectation level of the content, the direction and the expected audience.

To conclude, geographic TLDs and community based TLDs will be easy to digest and i’m sure it’s acceptable for the general public. What we really need is strong TLD that has a long tail into the worlds Internet presence. ICANN has a lot of work to do to make sure that the correct gTLD is released to the world.