>What I am asking for is real examples where ventures profit from the
choice 
>of a generic domain over something unique. Noteworthy Internet
companies 
>around have unique names (google.com, amazon.com, ebay.com) and it is
hard 
>to argue they would be more profitable if they were search.com,
books.com 
>and auctions.com respectively.


www.news.com.au ? :)

I appreciate that this isn't *completely* generic (after all... It does
point to the news portal of News Limited) - you get my drift though :)

JB