http://gawdlevelmarketing.blogspot.com/2007/11/domain-names-to-be-irrelevant.html
… and if you buy that I’ve got a bridge I’d like to sell you. 
Sahar does my work for me on this one: http://www.conceptualist.com/?p=640
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Like selling ice to Eskimos…
I’m not nearly as enthusiastic about major companies someday seeing the light on generic domain names. Would shoes.com be a helpful domain for Nike? Probably yes. Would they get that domain? Probably not. Just like you likely won’t see Nike reps handing out ad flyers on street corners. While that marketing tactic might be helpful, they don’t really need to do that. Their brand is big enough and their marketing budget is such that they’ll continue to generate sales the usual way by promoting “the brand.” I am in a very large corporate strategic planning function and we have a department of people whose livelihood is the care and protection of our corporate brand. They have a vested interest in seeing to it that we don’t dilute the vaunted corporate brand. All of the Fortune 500 are in a similar boat. And the next 500 have high paid consultants telling them that too. I even think that the Dallas Cowboys football organization doesn’t really ‘need’ cowboys.com.
But, here’s the direction I see. Advertising CAMPAIGNS are heading down the domain name road. I am seeing a growing use of generic domain phrases for specific ad campaigns. So, while Nike might not be interested in shoes.com, they would quickly grab “justdoit.com” rather than “nike.com/justdoit” or whatever ad phrase is going on to promote something special. If I were an ad agency, I would be grabbing bunches of useful generic ad phrase domains to keep in inventory for whatever pitch they want to make.
Having said that, I think the real and main potential for generic domain names will always be for new businesses. And, in that regard, I would far and away want shoes.com rather than having to spend millions to create awareness that nuwatuzziara.com sells great shoes online.
And the guy reckons you won’t be able to make money selling domains unless if you have things like Pepsi.com.