Not investing in a new top-level domain is like pining for the good old days when your only telecom option was a black Ma Bell telephone, or you could watch only the three broadcast networks. The new TLDs will offer small companies a bounty of new choices and promise to deliver innovations that improve security and marketing online.

 

The way he [Mr. Smith] sees it, dot-shop at some future point could catch on among retailers and others involved in Web sales—and one day may even rival dot-com, the dominant domain operated by Internet-services giant Verisign Inc.