311–320 of 699 posts
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Backed by Goldman Sachs, a company that destabilizes whole economies for profit. Apple isn’t exactly hiding which side of the income spectrum they prefer.
Right. They surely could have gone with a better institution if they were honestly making the best product for their customers.
It's interesting that this mentions lithium iron phosphate batteries as a "breakthrough technology". That echoes what BYD in China has been saying recently.[1] Lithium-iron isn't a new technology. It was popular for industrial power tools for a while. It is safer than lithium phosphate, not being prone to thermal runaway, but has less energy density. BYD has been able to get the energy density per unit volume up, but…
This is starting to make increasingly more sense even though Apple making a car seemed laughable a few years ago. Apple is fundamentally now a company that can move immense amounts of capital into new industries with the underlying ethos of user experience. Apple Card was perhaps a dipping of the toes moment. In theory, Tesla shouldn't be worth what it is because the tech behind it is increasingly getting commoditize…
> Apple is fundamentally now a company that can move immense amounts of capital into new industries with the underlying ethos of user experience. Also: insane supply-chain management chops, a skill that is more and more transferable - especially for electric cars.
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Sure, but Apple had a revolutionary new product. They weren't that great at the nuts and bolts of making a phone, but it didn't matter because the concept of the iPhone was so much better than any phone out there. What is Apple going to bring to the car to match that?
I’ll just say that the main benefit of a Tesla, besides driving and handling really nicely is that the electronics are actually good: it’s entertainment system isn’t a hacky afterthought; also, just plugging into the supercharger and walking away makes the whole “messing with payment methods” paradigm of gas stations seem obsolete.
To me, car electronics should be like a Kindle is for reading. There is a period after you launch the Kindle but before you start reading where you interact with it like a smartphone or tablet. But then once you get started, the notion that you're interacting with a digital device just disappears.
I want my car experience just like that - set up Spotify, Google Maps etc. before I go, then hands off any touchscreen until I stop. And I only use the audio driving instructions from Maps.
Come to think of it, the same applies to running - set up music, tracking app etc. on your front porch, don't touch the screen again until you're finished, that's a sign of a good run.
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Sure, but Apple had a revolutionary new product. They weren't that great at the nuts and bolts of making a phone, but it didn't matter because the concept of the iPhone was so much better than any phone out there. What is Apple going to bring to the car to match that?
Except they were better at making a phone, and then controlling costs in making advanced phones. Nokia could NOT compete. Even Microsoft gave up (despite billions). Even now, with years of competition, their margins are FAR higher than others making smartphones. Eye wateringly higher.
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And now my Netflix is almost at $20/month. And $12/month for Hulu. What about Disney+? Peacock? HBO Max? Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
I pay for Netflix and HBO Max, and my friends (sorry "my family") use them. I don't pay for Disney+ or Hulu, but I use my friend's (sorry "family's") account. Additionally, canceling any of these services is trivial, and I can stagger them month by month if I wanted.
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> Hard to see them doing better than car companies that have been building cars for decades. I'm sure Nokia had the same confidence in 2005.
Past performance is not indicative of future results etc, but you’re right, this is basically exactly what Palm CEO Ed Colligan said about the rumored iPhone a few months before it was revealed[1]: > “We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone,” he said. “PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.” 1: https://daringfireball.net/2006/…
Would Apple be required to make their car parts interchangeable with the generic aftermarket brands and car service centers? IIRC there is a law specifically for car manufacturing. I can imagine a dystopian future with custom non-standard parts, specialist repair centers, restrictions on what you can do with it, Apple being able to track everywhere we go, what we listen to, who is with us, and establishing a network…
I can't even begin to imagine how a walled garden for a car would look like. Perhaps there are examples from already existing car manufacturers.
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> Having one display off to the side, without buttons, that does everything is an awful experience in a car I have to strongly disagree with this. The touchscreen is great for the vast majority of things it replaces. The only physical controls I ever miss are for temperature (which is a very minor complaint) and windshield wipers (though I would also accept auto wipers that actually work). I do think the UI smoothnes…
Man I don’t drive with a passenger enough to care about ui animations on my car. I just want to set the fan speed and move on... preferably without looking.