Worth paying for
When you bring a product or service to the free market, the market decides what it’s worth. If you don’t want to be treated like a commodity (a race to the bottom), there are two paths:
Through scarcity: This is worth extra because there’s not a lot of it or we’re the only one who’s got it.
Through connection: This is worth extra because everyone else is already using it.
A little or a lot.
Few substitutes, either because it’s hard to get or because you’ve got all the good folks already.
We pay extra for something because it’s the only one its kind, because we’re quite thirsty and there’s nowhere else to stop, because we think it will go up in value, because it’s our best option from a limited selection. Right here, right now, you’re the best option. In other words, scarce.
Or…
Because we don’t want to be left out/left behind. It’s worth more because it connects us.
Value is not profit. Widespread and cheap innovations are valuable indeed. Profit, though, often has a different calculus, the creation of things that (some) people think is worth paying extra for.