Earlier quoted context omitted.
In fairness, silly ideas can work. Take Dyson, Nespresso, or Red Bull for example. I think it's tempting to succumb to hindsight bias. I'm sure that had Juicero succeeded and become the Apple of juicing, people would've been saying how obvious it was.
I thought of those. Nespresso has a restaurant-grade product that competes favorably with Starbucks at a querter of the price. Red Bull is kind of a sleep replacement/stimulant, which a lot of people needed pre-corona. Americans somehow were willing to sacrifice their sleep for their job/commute. Dyson vacuums - that I can't explain. Maybe their high prices signal them as better quality. Maybe somebody can explain th…
Red Bull offered an alternative to coffee and the market was lightly validated in rural Thailand. You had Krating Daeng in 1975 but it didn't really take off until they started sponsoring fighting. (It had a bit of a status problem.)
Nespresso, in addition to what you said about essentially changing the price architecture, also enhanced simplicity. A simple pod allows you to have a good cup of coffee quickly.
I think that Dyson was appealing because of the same enhanced simplicity as Nespresso. You didn't need bags anymore. I also think there's some cognitive thing happening where people derived pleasure from seeing their mess by hovered up inside the machine. And like you said, status could also play a role here. They've created the perception of being an Apple of boring household appliances.