"If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."; whether Henry Ford truly said that or not is immaterial as the quote itself is the point I was trying to make.

And your comment really rather touches on it.

Peoples' needs aren't as profitable -- not until what they need also becomes what they want.

I've never heard that quote used in that context before. That's interesting. I've always ascribed it to something closer to Kuhn's paradigm shifts.

Tell that to an oil or pharmaceutical company.