Calle: Fresh TLDs will be good for .Co

.Co Internet CEO thinks fresh TLDs will gain acceptance over time and ultimately be good for his own .co domain name.

Everyone has been asking the question regarding what fresh TLDs mean for .com. Few have been asking what fresh TLDs mean for existing alternatives to .com, such as .me, .info, and of course .co.

.Co Internet CEO Juan Diego Calle has weighed in on the issue on the .Co firm blog.

It’s a well-thought out post worth reading in its entirety, but I’ll attempt to summarize it a bit:

– fresh TLDs will increase awareness that there are alternatives to .com, which is good for .co.
– previous attempts by ICANN to allow fresh TLDs have been too limited to raise enough awareness, so this round is different.
– slowly but surely, brands will begin using fresh TLDs. Others will start to adopt them over time, too.
– the .com namespace will actually benefit in the shortrun, as previously unused domains are offered for sale at reasonable prices and more get used.
– .co will rise with the tide, helped out by its head start, implied meaning, and lack of ICANN restrictions (as a ccTLD).

You may not agree with everything Calle argues, but I think it’s mostly a fair representation of how things will look in the future. And if I were a fresh TLD applicant, I’d pay close attention to what .co thinks. It by now has the battle scars of trying to launch a fresh TLD.