Actually, whenever I do kw research for a new site, I do it in English, French and German...and....the German & French SERPs look like they're "cluttered" with authoritative domains...that have pages rank simply, because they're on an authoritative domain....which usually makes me prefer the English-language market!

Are you sure it's easier to rank in google.tld as opposed to google.com ? from my (admittedly limited) experience it seems the other way around?