Is ramen noodles good enough?

Robert Capp's article ""The Good Enough Revolution: When Cheap and Simple is Just Fine" is very interesting because it sheds light on the market of inferior goods. Technical goods that are not better than their competitors but are widely popular if mass consumers can afford it and need it. The good must also be able to fulfill the intended purpose of the finer good, even if it has lower quality. Every technology based consumer good that is based on the "cheap and simple" platform will inevitably end production or become a superior good because technology will continue to improve. Thus, the demands from customers will continue to change.

For example, in the article Capp explains the process Jonathan Kaplan went through in order to fail in the camera market and than have temporary success in the video market. The Flip camera is the prime example of a "good enough" product. It was able to fulfill the intended purpose of the finer good but with less quality. It had temporary success as in inferior good but was not able to keep adapting to the markets needs as technology became better. Moore's law applies must also apply to inferior goods. As the video market became better, Flip released better versions of its camera. However, an inferior good must not only improve its product but continue to innovate itself. Flip's motto was "We will always prioritize accessibility over features." But this motto led to their failure because as video became integrated into other products Flip lost its share of the market to smartphones. It could not adapt and become more accessible than smartphones and the camera did not have better features. Most can agree that smartphone cameras are inferior to DSLRs and also more convenient than a Flip cameras. Flip became the inferior good to the new inferior good. The ramen noodle to the Big Mac.

Some inferior products don't fail. They become superior products within their market. Skype is a great example of this.  Capp explains that originally the platform lagged and dropped calls. Clearly, it was the inferior good to international calls. It only accounted for 38 million users when the article was written. Over time the service drastically improved its quality and added numerous features for their customers. It innovated as time went on and became a superior good. Today Skype has over millions of users and is a leader in many telecommunication markets.

I overall agree with Cabb. There will always be a market for cheap and simple consumer goods. However, in order for a product to became a sustainable company their overall selling point/features must improve along side with the market. In fact, if they innovate ahead of their competitors the inferior good can become the superior good. Ramen noodles can become pad thai. All it takes is a cheap price, convenience, and some innovation.