Bleeding-Edge Mass Market Standards [Micro Economics]

To have a large impact, bleeding-edge mass market standards must do two things: diffuse widely and provide new functionality. Curiously, however, although these standards are often built from advanced technologies, they cannot deploy on a wide scale without building upon other widely deployed routines or less-advanced processes. A new standard´s ultimate impact is often uncertain at the time of deployment for numerous reasons. Technical constraints or simple lack of imagination, for example, might prevent participants from designing a perfect standard at the outset.