This is further to a thread I started on a domainers forum I visit -

NamePros.Com - SEO Benefit for .Asia domains

But it is really as much SEO related as domain so I thought I'd share here...

In a nutshell, Im seeing that the extension of a domain (eg .com, .net, .info, .asia) does influence SERPs if the extension itself is featured in the search term.

eg,

I search for "fishing net" in Google and five of the top ten results are .net domains (including cc-TLDs which incorporate the letters 'net')
I search for "fishing" in Google and only one of the top ten are .net domains.

I search for "music info" in Google & 3 of top 10 are .info domains.
I search for "Music information" in Google and none of the top 10 are .info.

This is particularly relevant for the new domain extension .asia as the keyword "asia" would feature in many a search term.