Are .com's going to continue to rise in value as more people get online and there are only so many .com's etc.? Or will the other .net, .org, and million other extensions dilute the prices on .com's? What about in the next 5-25 years? What else could come along to make .com domains drop in value?
I believe .com still a big value unless it been tell that Google will not recognize .com domain extension or it just same with other domain extension . .CO domain extension might replace .com in the future cause .com domain mostly been taken and not available. Most people go for .com cause of it use by global and have some SEO priority .
Google will open up lots of opportunities in the domain market if they move up non .com, .org. and .net in the search results.
For now, .com's are dominant, but as .com domains become less and less available, it might be wise for search engines to start ranking other domains higher so that unique content on new domains doesn't stop coming.
isnt that already in place? i can do a google search and find relevant sites on other extensions that arent .com I think .com is only valuable due to peoples perception and excellent marketing. I recently tried to get a parked domain that is in my niche, the seller wants $10k-$99k, considering i have alot of sites in the same niche, i know for a fact that in 100 years, the site would never earn close to what it would cost to purchase the domain. clearly they think its valuable (its not) but i think its because of branding, and that others see domains going for high value that others think that .com's are highly valuable.
I think you should also define what you mean by "long term". Are you talking 2-3 years, 5 years, 10+ years? Right now I wouldn't have a lot of faith that in 10 years things will be better for such things. Stuff changes so fast on the Internet, I wouldn't think more than 1-3 years ahead.