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Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

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Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#231
post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another anecdote, but this is exactly how I chose my last car. I went to CarMax, filtered by CarPlay integration, and then chose from what was available. In fact, the lack of CarPlay integration is one of the main reasons I didn't consider a Tesla at the time. From basic things like a snappy interface and keeping my podcasts in sync, to suggesting the destination based on the recent maps search I did from my phone on…

Today I learned that people pick a car based on how well it integrates with a cell phone.

The last few times I’ve rented a car it’s had CarPlay and based on those experiences, the next time I buy a car, it must have CarPlay. The experience without it is just so poor (and don’t get me started on how ridiculously bad the experience of pairing bluetooth is in my parent’s car which requires a mix of voice commands and button presses in a completely undiscoverable way).

Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#232

There have been a lot of failed new car company startups. Like the Tucker, the Bricklin, the DeLorean. It's really, really, really hard to create a new car company. The usual problem is way, way underestimating the amount of capital it will take. Tesla is an amazing company because they achieved it. Apple's expertise is in making software and tiny electrical gadgets. How they thought that would translate into experti…

I've always thought Apple's play is to try to build a self-driving setup that can be sold/integrated with other manufacturers.

Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#233
post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Compare their sales and profits to other car makers. They are grossly overvalued

Yes, but as a counter point they are grossly overvalued. If you can get the same gross overvaluation, which Apple probably can, then why not do it? Especially if you can goose the stock price long enough to hit your bonus metrics and cash out.

The markets aren’t going to value Apple like Tesla just because they enter the same industry. Tesla has an earning multiple right now of 99.52x compared to Apple’s 25.3x.

Adding another 4 billion in profits when it already makes around $19.44B is not going to get the market to value its stock higher anymore than Disney adding streaming helped it to be worth the multiple that Netflix was.

But the market can stay irrational longer than most people can stay solvent

Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#235
post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another anecdote, but this is exactly how I chose my last car. I went to CarMax, filtered by CarPlay integration, and then chose from what was available. In fact, the lack of CarPlay integration is one of the main reasons I didn't consider a Tesla at the time. From basic things like a snappy interface and keeping my podcasts in sync, to suggesting the destination based on the recent maps search I did from my phone on…

Today I learned that people pick a car based on how well it integrates with a cell phone.

People use the infotainment in cars almost as much as the actual driving interface. It's not all that weird!

Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#236
post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Besides them inventing the modern smart phone and revolutionizing an industry? What did the romans ever do for US? :P

All Apple did is commodify the industry, and that business model has proven to be successful for them (same as it was with the iPod). At the end of the day, Apple's contributions to technology aren't chivalric acts of kindness. Their ultimate goal is the same as everyone, running a rent collection business and relying on their services to make consistent income. That's what I think we need to fix. Apple can continue…

A commodity is something by definition that is easily substitutable and you have to compete on price. Apple products are anything but a “commodity”. This is kinda Econ 101.

Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#238

Given the number of times I've seen a reported, verified bug in OS X be "fixed" by hiding the bug from the public tracker and marking it "will not fix," I would have a hard time ever trusting a car made by Apple. Apple also makes their products to be disposable, seemingly as part of the culture, while a well-made electric car can run to a million miles over 50+ years. That's a very different build philosophy. The key…

Why would you “imagine that” when CarPlay already supports third party app? Every Apple platform supports third party apps.

Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#239
post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tesla definitely has some smoke and mirrors going on and is clearly overvalued but I feel like calling them a meme stock at this point is pretty inaccurate. Teslas are on the road doing things and the company is selling them in pretty serious quantities... all against the seemingly iron willed determination of Elon Musk to bankrupt the company by creating a PR nightmare and wasting money.

Compare their sales and profits to other car makers. They are grossly overvalued

Compare their sales growth to other car makers. Compare their profit margins to other car makers.
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