Archive for September, 2009
What if good enough is out-competing the high end
What is good enough? According to Wikipedia it is a rule for software design. According to the writer on wikipedia:
Once the quick-and-simple design is deployed,
it can then evolve as needed,
driven by user requirements
I think good enough market segments are kind of new but they are easy to find if you look for them. When it comes to technology during the 90’s, the market was mainly focused on 2 segments: good or cheap.
For every “good enough” product there will always be a small group that wants a high fidelity version. All the big volumes will be in the good enough segments and the high fidelity versions will be expensive and targeted for small groups. In the same time it will be a big market for “a bit better than good enough” targeted for people that wants a little extra. This means that you will create 3 markets from just one! This fragmentation will go on and on and on. Then you have a market that is more fragmented than ever with: cheap, cheap but a bit better, good enough, good enough but a bit better, cheap almost high fidelity and high fidelity. At some point you will have too many “small segments” between good and high end and finally some markets segments will disappear. Read the rest of this entry »