[TheOtherHobbes]

'The market' - which is actually not a useful catch-all way to describe a complex set of customs, traditions, power-plays, politics, and other relationships - may have undervalued something for all kinds of reasons.

Markets are not only not omniscient, they're remarkably easy to influence if you're one of the relatively few people who understand how to do effective marketing. (I'm not, but I've certainly experienced people who are.)

Ability-to-persuade usually trumps ability-to-deliver. Even in tech.

So what's the real value of a product/service?

With a failure like this, the lack-of-value may have been as much about the failure to upsell and market correctly as about a lack of practical usefulness.