Pandora's Digital Box ⇒

{% blockquote David Bordwell http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2012/01/11/pandoras-digital-box-from-the-periphery-to-the-center-or-the-one-of-many-centers/ Pandora’s digital box: From the periphery to the center, or the one of many centers %} It seems to me that Western firms’ concentration on the DVD and the sidelining of the VCD exemplifies what management analysts have come to call “overshoot.” In the theory of disruptive technologies pioneered by Clayton Christensen, established firms aim to sustain an existing technology, either through incremental improvements or radical innovations. As the technology improves, these sustaining firms target the upper end of the market. Thus Eastman Kodak strove to improve its film stocks to satisfy and win the approval of the world’s top cinematographers. Likewise, Sony and other firms collaborated to create the DVD as an improvement on broadcast video, VHS, and laserdisc.

But in the process they left lower-end markets behind. Entrenched sustaining technology tends to be complicated, inconvenient, and expensive. Christensen posits that the big firms’ overshoot often leave space for firms that develop technology that is cheap, convenient, and “good enough” for what might be a very big segment of purchasers. To the professional eye, VHS was inferior to Beta tape and laserdisc, but for most consumers that tape format was good enough. Then DVD proved more convenient—smaller, more portable, easier to use—and of noticeably better quality. Experts knew that the DVD was still a compromise format, especially compared to 35mm, but for consumers it was good enough. {% endblockquote %}

Crack a beer, (or tea, or whatever) sit in a comfy chair and read every word of David’s post. It’s worth it.