People don’t want Gadgets anymore. They want Services.

—Jeff Bezos

In the beginning was the Hardware, and the Hardware came from Apple and IBM, and the Hardware was Apple and IBM. Then came the Software, and with the Software came Microsoft. IBM withdraw and left the Hardware to Dell and HP. Microsoft dominated the Software, and Apple came to the brink of bankruptcy.

Steve Jobs returned and led Apple from there to the top of the world in just a few years. He integrated Hardware and Software into attractive Products through adding Services, to bring the customer experience to perfection. Though this model turned out to be extremely successful, to this day no competitor managed to bring something even remotely similar to market.

Untill now.

Now Amazon is trying it. Instead of Hardware like Dell and HP, Software like Microsoft or Products consisting of Hardware and Software plus Services like Apple, Amazon clearly focuses on Services. And with that a battle becomes apparent that will be exciting to watch.

It is the old dichotomy of Products and Services in new clothes. Since the seventies, we have been talking about the development of a Service economy, about the transformation from Products to Services. The digital revolution has further accelerated this development.

Apple’s excellence is clearly based on the design of their Products. In comparison, Apple allows themselves a bunch of weaknesses when it comes to designing their Services. MobileMe was a disaster, iCloud doesn’t really run smoothly. And the universe of iTunes and App Stores has enough upward potential, too.

Amazon as a retailer is closer to the Service dimension than Apple. Amazon Web Services as provider of infrastructure is also focused on Services; the business model is called “Software as a Service”. And the Hardware? Amazon’s Kindle devices serve as a simple way to access media, content and products. They are discernible as means to an end, not gadgets.

If Apple stands for their Products, then Amazon stands for their Services. Is Jeff Bezos the new Steve Jobs? Is he a master of Service Design, like Steve Jobs was a master of Product Design? And is Service Design the new Product Design?

We dedicated the NEXT Service Design Conference on 8 October in Berlin to the topic of Service Design. Get your ticket here and save 100 Euro until coming Monday.