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Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

mondaynote.com

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Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#101

Post by supervillain »

paxys wrote: post #57
supervillain wrote: post #28

A suggestion for Apple. 1. Apple is worth $2.44 trillion USD; pay off the whole $240 billion USD debt owed by the Philippines. 2. Establish Apple HQ facilities in the Philippines and employ the vast majority of the country's talented software engineers there. 3. Take advantage of the cheap labour, low costs, and high standard of living to ride the wave of unending profit. This is how you turn things around and switch…

They can set up a facility and employ people in a country without paying off their debt. What exactly does Philippines have to offer that others don't?

If the Philippine debt is repaid, you'll have established the new Silicon Valley, complete with a talent pool dominated by software engineers and a large number of blockchain and AI experts.

Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#102

Post by jononomo »

I wish Toyota would partner with Apple for their internal maps, screen, controls, etc. Toyota seems to have a major problem with intuitive usability (especially for my parents who are in their 80s).

Toyota is the largest car company in the world and makes the most reliable vehicles in the world, but they need that extra touch to take them to the next level.

Just as I would never by a phone that is not an iPhone, or a laptop that is not a MacBook, I would never buy a car that is not a Toyota. But Toyota does have some room for improvement.

Also, an Apple-Toyota partnership would make Teslas look pathetic in comparison.

Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#103

Post by 32995844 »

boringg wrote: post #96
xxpor wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you have that much cash on hand, is it really?

I mean how much of a return can carplay generate on an initial investment of 8 billion and on-going OPEX even if selling to all the manufacturers (which it isn't). I think the point is that it was unlikely their intention to be building solely for carplay and an actual car was a bonus. However if they wind down the hardware play of an actual car this could be something that soften those sunk costs.

Imagine a world where the car manufacturers no longer deal with software development for the vehicle, but instead you have a licensing agreement with Apple where CarPlay is the interface. Similar to Volvo and Google and Android Automotive. A lot of car manufacturers are standardizing around Android in general (see Acura, Volvo, BMW). If Apple could get in with an A-series chip and a custom software stack, then that would probably be a decent amount of money through some hardware purchasing and software licensing. Look at how Cariad (the VAG stack) blew up schedules for upcoming Porsche and Audi models and early versions of it were laggy, missing features, OTA updates are slow/non-existant, etc. If Apple can get their foot in the door, it opens up new service opportunities for things like Apple Music alongside any licensing, which may be the bigger goal.

Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#104

Post by jononomo »

jononomo wrote: post #102

I wish Toyota would partner with Apple for their internal maps, screen, controls, etc. Toyota seems to have a major problem with intuitive usability (especially for my parents who are in their 80s). Toyota is the largest car company in the world and makes the most reliable vehicles in the world, but they need that extra touch to take them to the next level. Just as I would never by a phone that is not an iPhone, or a…

How much would it cost for Apple to take a 10% stake in Toyota? Doesn't Apple have a couple hundred billion dollars just lying around in cash?

Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#105

Post by Joeri »

Off topic, I am really digging the artwork at the top of this article.

The bondi blue iMac, on wheels so snug in their wells they couldn’t turn more than a few degrees, standing on a white polished surface that it couldn’t drive on without unsightly black streaks, with a clearance so low it needs that polished surface to drive on. The most impractical car design, but quintessentially Apple.

It is part homage and part diss at the same time. I love it.

Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#106

Post by macshome »

packetlost wrote: post #82
babypuncher wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't the point of CarPlay and Android Auto to make this possible, without needing to actually replace hardware? The idea is to make it so the hardware in your car is just a dumb terminal that doesn't ever need to be upgraded. Your infotainment system gets upgraded every time you get a new phone or iOS/Android upgrade.

Sort of, but they don't let you control things like... climate control, etc.. There's no real reason those APIs can't/don't exist as long as they have proper safety mechanisms in place.

There have long been CarPlay and Siri intents for things like climate control but no automaker has wanted to give up more control inside their dashboard.

Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#107

Post by germinalphrase »

ghaff wrote: post #19
germinalphrase wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Setting aside technicals issues as a huge caveat, the promise of AR is massive. I'm actually somewhat surprised that we're not seeing more AR focused media to prime people to the possibilities (but maybe we're just too early).

Probably too early although we've seen some attempts with AR apps on phones. As you say, technical is a huge caveat. But it's pretty easy to see that IF we could have glasses that could overlay/enhance/record/etc. there are so many possibilities in a way there aren't with VR for example--for both consumer and commercial uses. By contrast, VR seems pretty limited; immersive gaming and virtual tourism just aren't that…

Absolutely. I would absolutely love to work in the AR space at some point.

That said, I can just as easily identify any number of social/cognitive/cultural "diseases" or abuses of that world. Should the transition happen (and all signs point at the big players /trying/ to make it happen), we will have some gnarly traps to avoid - and I'm not very confident that we will do so with grace.

Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#108

Post by _JamesA_ »

jononomo wrote: post #102

I wish Toyota would partner with Apple for their internal maps, screen, controls, etc. Toyota seems to have a major problem with intuitive usability (especially for my parents who are in their 80s). Toyota is the largest car company in the world and makes the most reliable vehicles in the world, but they need that extra touch to take them to the next level. Just as I would never by a phone that is not an iPhone, or a…

Adding wireless CarPlay would be a great start.

Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#109

Post by mijamo »

tobyjsullivan wrote: post #92

I think people focus too much on the actual car in this speculation. What about the service? Apple is really, really good at finding industries full of bullshit (computers in the 80's, mobile phones in the early 2000's) and saying, "okay, here's a slightly better looking product, with fewer features, and no more bullshit." The vehicle market is full of bullshit. Tesla took the same tactic and has knocked it down cons…

I don't think you can say Tesla is "no more bullshit". If anything they are the one adding shiny useless feature for the buzz, and having a terrible all touch UI that makes no sense for driving.

The only car manufacturer that is "no more bullshit" would be Dacia and that's not the same segment. But they are indeed doing really well!

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