The Wonders of Good Enough
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The New York Times had a great article on Sunday about the success of Pure Digital Technologies “Flip Video” camcorder. The article’s basic message: Pure Digital has created a big market by embracing the principle of “good enough.”
The Flip Video won’t win any awards for its breathtaking design, or the quality of images it captures. The camera is simple, easy to use, and relatively inexpensive. It costs $100 for a camera with 30 minutes of capacity and $150 for a camera with 60 minutes of capacity. The device connects easily with a home computer, allowing seamless video transfer.
Pure Digital has sold a million Flip Videos over the past year. Clearly, users that are uploading videos to YouTube or emailing short video clips to friends and family are willing to trade off picture quality for an unobtrusive, affordable device.
In a perfect world, companies would introduce pitch-perfect products that were easy to use and affordable. The reality is that there often is a tradeoff between basic performance, ease of use, and price.
Established companies typically favor sacrificing ease of use and price in the name of performance. They fear the very term “good enough,” because they think sacrificing raw performance will render their products inferior.
Remember, though, that quality is relative. It is always worth asking: What would happen if you intentionally lowered raw performance in the name of simplicity, convenience, accessibility, or affordability? What new markets could you serve? What new consumption could you enable?
Almost always, embracing “good enough” can open the door to new opportunities.
As an aside, the Flip Video is Pure Digital’s second act—back in 2005 I panned its first camcorder that functioned like a disposable camera, meaning it had to be dropped off in a CVS pharmacy or equivalent to have its images processed. My colleague Renee Hopkins Callahan was more on the ball, praising Pure Digital's embrace of "good enough" back in March.
It’s a good thing Pure Digital kept at it, as it now seems to have a big success on its hand.
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Scott D. Anthony is the president of Innosight, an innovation consulting and investing company with offices in Massachusetts, Singapore, and India. He has consulted to Fortune 500 and start-up companies in a wide range of industries. During 2005–2006 he spearheaded a yearlong project to help the newspaper industry grapple with industry transformation (Newspaper Next).
Comments
That's a good point, and in a way, this is what has made Nintendo's Wii so successful. Granted, they didn't sacrifice quality per se, but they completely abdicated on the graphics arms race (which for many had become ubiquitous with video game quality) in the face of plenty of questions of "good-enough." The result is something that appeals to nearly everyone and is simple, fun, and affordable.
- Posted by Chuck
May 28, 2008 10:08 AM
Great point. In this developed world, as kevin kelly points out, we hyper-consume so much, that some of us, exceed the belongings of Henry the VIII, King of all England, died in 1547.
http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2004/11/the_number_of_s.php
So I think, the 'good enough' principle works very well.
However, Quality is not an acceptable tradeoff in the developing world.
http://blog.amusecorp.com/index.html/178
-Vasu
- Posted by Vasu Srinivasan
May 28, 2008 7:06 PM
that's quite true, wayback 2006 my husband bought a very hi-tech expensive cellphone, which has not been used so often because of its complex features. After that experience he is not anymore attractive to buy the same kind.
A good quality is very essential and consumers are wiling to pay no matter how expensive it is. But there are so many wise consumers now a days that they consider so much the product in terms of convenience, "user friendly" and affordability.
Sometimes it pays to sacrifice raw performance by lowering it in the name of accessability and convenience.
- Posted by Mariafe M. Plaza
May 28, 2008 8:38 PM
Is it about accessibility to a market or meeting a customer need of "making my life easier"? I believe that products that help to simplify life activities via technology will be the winners.
As someone mentioned the Nintendo's Wii, I believe its success is based on its easy of use vs. other complex consoles. Nintendo built a larger market beyond just the gamers, e.g grandparents.
- Posted by Adrian
May 29, 2008 7:40 PM
Hi Scott --
I'm still amazed at what I think of as one of the classic "good enough" examples -- camera phones. When they first came out, I honestly thought it was one of the dumbest ideas possible -- who would want these crummy photos? Obviously my 35mm camera took far better pictures.
Of course, what they did was open an entirely new use for photography -- rather than preserving memories, this product turned photography into a means of enhancing our instant communication.
Not only is "good enough" a path to innovation, but our often- instinctive rejection of it can be one of an organization's greatest barriers.
Best,
Tammy
- Posted by Tammy Erickson
May 31, 2008 7:15 AM