Apparently, ICANN's plan to launch new generic top-level domains is running a bit behind schedule thanks to the complexity of the issue, but it should be available before the end of the year. That withstanding, the state of the domain industry seems strong.
The Internet added 24 million new domain names in 2008, according to the fourth quarter 2008 Domain Name Industry Brief published by VeriSign, Inc.
The year 2008 ended with a total base of 177 million domain name registrations across all of the Top Level Domains (TLDs)- a 16 percent growth over the previous year. In the fourth quarter alone, more than 10.1 million new domain names were registered across all TLDs. The total base of .com and .net domain names grew to 90.4 million at the end of 2008 - a 12 percent increase over the previous year and a 1 percent increase over the third quarter of 2008.