In 2009 Wired magazine published “The Good Enough Revolution: When Cheap and Simple Is Just Fine.” It opened with the Flip Ultra video camera. The Flip was “stripped-down” and cost $150. A midpriced Sony camcorder cost $800. The Flip sold more than a million units in its first year. By 2009 it held 17 percent of the U.S. camcorder market.
The writer, Robert Capps, argued that buyers now valued three things: “ease of use, continuous availability, and low price.” To get them, “they’ll happily sacrifice power and features.”