1. Defining the notion of service in the context of innovation

While we generally agree on the definition and understanding of a product, the notion of service often remains more mysterious to someone with a technical background. What's more, we'll see that the boundary between the two notions is blurred and ambiguous, as one can be intertwined with the other, for example. Nevertheless, it's worth making the distinction, because "thinking in terms of service" is far more virtuous and, ultimately, a source of innovation for the company, its customers and society as a whole.

A product is often associated with a physical good or object (called an artifact), more material than immaterial, that we buy, own, use, maintain, throw away or at best recycle on our own responsibility. This needs to be modulated because :

• We're talking about a computer product; it's immaterial, but we're...