I hope it's not an overreaction to the current reactionary anti-ESG trend. We do need electric cars; they are the future.
Do we need Apple specifically to make an electric car?
Apple to wind down electric car effort after decadelong odyssey
491–500 of 992 posts
Re: Apple to wind down electric car effort after decadelong odyssey
#492Earlier quoted context omitted.
The phone made sense to me because by that point Apple had clearly proven themselves as a consumer electronics company. It’s wasn’t as big a jump and cell phone software was largely junk. The carrier thing was true, but they could have launched outside the US. Instead they found a carrier desperate enough. But they’ve never done safety critical stuff like a car. Of highly mechanical stuff like a car. Or things that n…
Apple is still waiting it out until most of the existing EV issues are resolved. Then, they can swoop in and leverage their walled garden to get buyers/users. They'll also be different than Ford, Mazda, Honda, etc since I don't think they will try to sell their cars. It'll be a subscription fee and Apple will own the car. All this news tells me is that Apple is putting EV in the back burner since users are still not…
What does Apple‘s walled garden have to do with buying a car?
I’m so tired of people claiming apples walled garden gives them magic abilities. It has nothing to do with this. Do you really think people are going to pay an extra $30,000 for a car because it works with the iPhone?
I have an iPhone. I love Apple stuff. I’m not paying any premium for an Apple car, they have to convince me it’s worth it over the competition.
Re: Apple to wind down electric car effort after decadelong odyssey
#493Earlier quoted context omitted.
The phone made sense to me because by that point Apple had clearly proven themselves as a consumer electronics company. It’s wasn’t as big a jump and cell phone software was largely junk. The carrier thing was true, but they could have launched outside the US. Instead they found a carrier desperate enough. But they’ve never done safety critical stuff like a car. Of highly mechanical stuff like a car. Or things that n…
Apple is still waiting it out until most of the existing EV issues are resolved. Then, they can swoop in and leverage their walled garden to get buyers/users. They'll also be different than Ford, Mazda, Honda, etc since I don't think they will try to sell their cars. It'll be a subscription fee and Apple will own the car. All this news tells me is that Apple is putting EV in the back burner since users are still not…
That’s some Apple fan boy cope.
Re: Apple to wind down electric car effort after decadelong odyssey
#494I hope it's not an overreaction to the current reactionary anti-ESG trend. We do need electric cars; they are the future.
Future of what? Reliable mass public transport is the best option for a sustainable future. We don't need car centric suburbia but with heavier and more expensive cars.
We already have car centric suburbia and its going to take decades to change that. We might as well switch to electric cars which are quieter and produce less air pollution rather than wait for thousands of homes to be rebuilt.
Re: Apple to wind down electric car effort after decadelong odyssey
#495Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why is it stupid to talk about non-confidential aspects of your job in public?
The Apple Car R&D project is (or, I suppose, was) absolutely confidential. I am sure Apple has reprimanded or fired people for less.
Fired people for less than what?
What part of it is confidential? Its existence? Obviously not. The fact that it uses SLAM? Not confidential, of course it does. That a person was transferred from that to the Vision Pro? Probably also on their linkedin page.
Nothing that OP described this person as saying sounds "stupid" or confidential. Sure, maybe they also said something that was confidential in addition to what was described. Maybe they also insulted your mother. We don't know.
Re: Apple to wind down electric car effort after decadelong odyssey
#496Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh, this I could also see. Apple hates to partner with others, for the most part, which is why I don’t think that happened. And some of that is for good reason. The awfulness of the Motorola Rokr is what convinced Steve Jobs that Apple had to fully own and control the iPhone. And Apple is showing off parts of Car Play that could be fully integrated by manufacturers in a much deeper way, assuming they want to give up…
I think I know why GM and the others fear CarPlay and Android Auto, but it's just so dumb to me. It makes sense for companies like Netflix to shy away from the Apple "walled garden." They want to deliver a unique experience with exclusive content, not just be another content supplier to the Apple experience. They don't want to wind up like the record companies. But car manufacturers? There's a whole lot of stuff goin…
From my past discussions with car executives (that are ~10 years old so grain of salt), I really do think it’s as simple as that recurring infotainment subscription revenue.
The small margin GM gets on its cars is buffered by the revenue splits it gets with Sirius XM and the various call for assistance services. Sirius revenue is on the decline because everyone listens to Spotify on their phone. The GPS revenue stream died with Google Maps on phones. So they have to try to lock in those fees where they can. See also: BMW selling a subscription to unlock features like heated seats.
Now, I think this backfires for GM. I think way more people will not buy new cars if they lack Android Auto or Car Play than they think. I also think that it will be harder to maintain the apps and services than GM thinks. When Ford was doing its partnership with Microsoft 15 years ago (and then they took it in-house because Microsoft Connect or whatever it was called was buggy as hell), I think that made a lot of sense. But it was also expensive to do and so you saw the car companies offload a lot of those details to Apple and Google via a QNX or other middleware layer. Tesla built its own software as sort of a foundational part of the car experience, and I think it has worked well for them. I don’t have the same confidence in GM.
The thing is, if GM just made a $30 a month connected car subscription package to unlock Car Play and 5G assistance or whatever, I think they’d sell tons of it. People would complain but I know that I would pay the money in a second versus trying to pair my phone with a non-Car Play infotainment system. But I bet Apple and Google would insist on 30% of that revenue (at least).
Re: Apple to wind down electric car effort after decadelong odyssey
#497Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is hilarious that people are trying to portray MSFT's moves in AI as "desperate" lol
MS got the score of the century. They're selling the shovels and access to the mines.
This is true, but most big AI companies are the ones selling shovels, and tons of money is pouring into the field because everyone wants to get in on shovel selling... but I don't know if it's yet determined that there are enough motivated shovel buyers.
Re: Apple to wind down electric car effort after decadelong odyssey
#498Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are generally 3types of car buyers today. 1. People who are into cars as status items (which encompasses car enthusiasts, because lets be real, very few of those people who are into "performance" even touch 50% of the cars capability on public roads). This is your BMW/Porsche and other buyers. 2. People who want cheap modes of transportation. This is your cheapest level sedan buyers. 3. People who want specific…
Apple cars would aim more for the (1) bracket than the (3). Apple products are status items. Same particular utility can be had much cheaper.
How can Apple products be status items when over 60% of smartphones in the US are iPhones? Is Coca-Cola a status item? Is it possible that they're just good products that deliver good value to the majority of people who buy them? Is a $1300 Galaxy S24 Ultra not a status item?
Re: Apple to wind down electric car effort after decadelong odyssey
#499I hope it's not an overreaction to the current reactionary anti-ESG trend. We do need electric cars; they are the future.
I don't follow. Why would anti-ESG folks be against an Apple car?
Re: Apple to wind down electric car effort after decadelong odyssey
#500From now on they'll be known as the "Hype" team: working on whatever technology is hyped at the moment.