UK consumers see .co.uk MUCH more than .com in the 'real world' as opposed to the 'virtual world' - evidence:
UK's daily national newspapers:
The Times - timesonline.co.uk
The Sun - thesun.co.uk
The Mirror - mirror.co.uk
Financial Times - ft.com
The Guardian - guardian.co.uk
The Independent - independent.co.uk
The Telegraph - telegraph.co.uk
Daily Mail - dailymail.co.uk
Daily Express - express.co.uk
Morning Star - morrningstaronline.co.uk
Metro - metro.co.uk
Daily Star - dailystar.co.uk
Daily Sport - dailysport.co.uk
Summary: 12 out of 13 use .co.uk, 1 out of 13 use .com.
Major highstreet UK banks:
Barclays - barclays.co.uk
Co-Op - co-operativebank.co.uk
Alliance & Leicester - alliance-leicester.co.uk
Halifax - halifax.co.uk
Bank of Scotland - bankofscotland.co.uk
HSBC -hsbc.co.uk
Lloyds TSB - lloydstsb.com
NatWest - natwest.com
RBS - rbs.co.uk
Yorkshire - yorkshirebank.co.uk
Clydeside - cbonline.co.uk
Abbey Nat - abbey.com
Bradford & Bingley - bradford-bingley.co.uk
Northern Rock - northernrock.co.uk
Woolwich - woolwich.co.uk
Summary: 12 out of 15 use .co.uk, 3 out of 15 use .com
UK's daily national newspapers:
The Times - timesonline.co.uk
The Sun - thesun.co.uk
The Mirror - mirror.co.uk
Financial Times - ft.com
The Guardian - guardian.co.uk
The Independent - independent.co.uk
The Telegraph - telegraph.co.uk
Daily Mail - dailymail.co.uk
Daily Express - express.co.uk
Morning Star - morrningstaronline.co.uk
Metro - metro.co.uk
Daily Star - dailystar.co.uk
Daily Sport - dailysport.co.uk
Summary: 12 out of 13 use .co.uk, 1 out of 13 use .com.
Major highstreet UK banks:
Barclays - barclays.co.uk
Co-Op - co-operativebank.co.uk
Alliance & Leicester - alliance-leicester.co.uk
Halifax - halifax.co.uk
Bank of Scotland - bankofscotland.co.uk
HSBC -hsbc.co.uk
Lloyds TSB - lloydstsb.com
NatWest - natwest.com
RBS - rbs.co.uk
Yorkshire - yorkshirebank.co.uk
Clydeside - cbonline.co.uk
Abbey Nat - abbey.com
Bradford & Bingley - bradford-bingley.co.uk
Northern Rock - northernrock.co.uk
Woolwich - woolwich.co.uk
Summary: 12 out of 15 use .co.uk, 3 out of 15 use .com
That is simply an assertion without substance:
This shows the UK's biggest extension is dot com by a country mile.
http://google.com/trends?q=.com,+.co.uk&ctab=0&geo=GB&date=all&sort=0
However, when it comes to actually buying things because we want to pay in Sterling, do not want to pay import duty, or twice the value of item shipping it from America, then we are more inclined to shop at a domestic outlet and will tend to select sites with a .co.uk address. It has nothing to do with generations, it purely cultural and geographical.
Are you suggesting the next generation is going to be dot Mobi? Because if you are, then you haven't a clue what you are talking about.