Google May Replace .Com In The Near Future

Though of course .com and other Top Level Domains will continue to exist for a very long time, Google has noted today that they've applied for several TLDs ahead of ICANN's April 20 deadline for purchasing such rights. Google's domain name choices will likely be revealed once they've got them locked down with ICANN, until then we can only guess at such obvious hits as .GOOGLE, .YOUTUBE, and .GPLUS. Would you like your Google+ domain to be ChrisBurns.GPLUS?

Google explained today that they're working with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to have their domains secured before April 12, this being the original deadline for such registration, the extended deadline now ringing in at the 20th of this month. Google will likely sign up for domains that work with their top level services such as YouTube and Gmail, or of course Google Play, Google's digital content store.

As Google noted in a statement this week:

"We plan to apply for Google's trademarked TLDs, and we're currently exploring opportunities to apply for new ones as well. We want to help make this a smooth experience for web users—one that promotes innovation and competition on the Internet." – Google

According to PCMag's Mark Hachman's findings, The US Patent and Trademark Office already lists fifty-eight trademarks containing the word Google. Not every single one of these trademarks belongs to Google, but the majority of them do – Google Plus is more than likely going to be part of this domain bid in one way or another, that's almost a given. Generic TLDs can currently be applied for with a tiny fee of $185,000 – cheap!