New Domain Names May Cause Net Confusion

According to USA Today, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the group that is responsible for managing domain names and addresses on the internet, is ready to open up domain registry for all domain names. Instead of having a limit for what addresses can be named with .net, .com, .org, etc, you can name things anything you want including .pocketnow. In the future, perhaps there will be a www.reviews.pocketnow instead of just www.pocketnow.com. Essentially, a company can use its name to replace .com at the end of an address.

What this means is that there will be more domain names available. However, there may be more confusion in light of competition. Before, if you were looking up a product, like Pepsi, you can just assume it's Pepsi.com. However, with open domain names, there may be www.diet.pepsi or www.lowcarb.pepsi.

However, there may not really be that much confusion. These days, many people don't really remember domain names. Instead, people go to Google.com or Yahoo.com and search for their products and companies.

Do you try and type in companyabc.com first or are you the type to use Google to search for the exact domain name? Are you ready for www.reviews.pocketnow or is pocketnow.com easier to remember?

In light of new domain names, I can see internet search companies like giant Google be even more valuable, especially as consumers begin using the mobile internet on their phones more to search for information on the go quickly.