I think it's useful to look at a different industry - cars - to see how this could play out.
Initially it was mostly about figuring out how to make them work. Later, it was making them work better and how to make more of them in a shorter time. These days a car needs to be able to sustain performance for many years with a tiny amount of failures or there's a lawsuit.
Design has clearly become more important. It's probably easy to say that design is the 'most important thing' since engineering is all good, but even now it would be wrong. Some marques need passable engineering and design, and focus on price. Others focus on great engineering with passable design (Volvo? IMHO). Others on great engineering and great design but passable price (Porsche, say, vs Bugatti). Toyota is much more about engineering and price, than design.
This mirrors Porter's 'generic strategies' [1] where different companies can compete in the same overall market, each embodying different principles by which they compete.
Similarly, I suspect that the design/engineering issue won't be 'answered'. Each niche and market will have different requirements. Different solution providers, each with a different design/engineering mix, will succeed based on how that mix and the resulting solution match the specific needs of the customer.
Initially it was mostly about figuring out how to make them work. Later, it was making them work better and how to make more of them in a shorter time. These days a car needs to be able to sustain performance for many years with a tiny amount of failures or there's a lawsuit.
Design has clearly become more important. It's probably easy to say that design is the 'most important thing' since engineering is all good, but even now it would be wrong. Some marques need passable engineering and design, and focus on price. Others focus on great engineering with passable design (Volvo? IMHO). Others on great engineering and great design but passable price (Porsche, say, vs Bugatti). Toyota is much more about engineering and price, than design.
This mirrors Porter's 'generic strategies' [1] where different companies can compete in the same overall market, each embodying different principles by which they compete.
Similarly, I suspect that the design/engineering issue won't be 'answered'. Each niche and market will have different requirements. Different solution providers, each with a different design/engineering mix, will succeed based on how that mix and the resulting solution match the specific needs of the customer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter_generic_strategies