"DESIGN INFERIORITY"

I'm a fan of all things design, and I've posted here before about my love for the I.D. site CORE 77. Recently they posted an article related to a "compromise design" ...in order to sustain a project at the cost of peak efficiency.

So the question for YOU is:

Is an inferior design still inferior if more people can afford/use it? 
If cost constraints would prevent the perfect object from being commercially successful, is it better to design something with inferior performance but feasible manufacturability (or for that matter price-point or commercial viability)?

Tawlk amongst you'selves...