Live data from Hacker News

Apple to wind down electric car effort after decadelong odyssey

bloomberg.com

701–710 of 992 posts

Re: Apple to wind down electric car effort after decadelong odyssey

#701

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They only have like 2% of the PC/laptop market, so not many people think they're that attractive. I like my M1 MacBook itself, but hate the aluminum chassis. I find it brutally garish, sharp and uncomfortable (hurts to type on, hurts my wrists where they rest on a sharp edge, so it's basically a desktop with an attached keyboard and mouse)

so not many people think they're that attractive Do most people buy a laptop based mainly on appearance? I always thought that most people buy a Windows laptop because that's what they need for work/school (or what they are most familiar with from work/school).

Many of my friends think most windows laptops look garish

Re: Apple to wind down electric car effort after decadelong odyssey

#703

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more "fuzzy thinking" than fanboy cope. Despite all the glittery rhetoric that "a car is just a computer on wheels", this always seemed like a bizarre move for Apple and I've never seen anyone explain what the strategic vision was supposed to be. Even with full lv5 autonomy, what's Apple's unique twist? Big monitors for watching TV+ in the car? That wouldn't have been remotely enough. I wish we could read the in…

>Even with full lv5 autonomy, what's Apple's unique twist? Same as the rest of apples brand: "it just works". The seemless, polished integration of their products gave them a devoted fanbase that pays a huge premium over competition.

That is what a toyota already is though.

Re: Apple to wind down electric car effort after decadelong odyssey

#704
post #59

Earlier 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…

If a car model won't run, you can't all your customers they're "holding it wrong".

I see no reason Apple couldn't tell their customers that. Wouldn't surprise me in the least.

Re: Apple to wind down electric car effort after decadelong odyssey

#705

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My point exactly. It is such a locked down platform, that I cannot for the life of me understand why people fawn over iphones. They were first to market, but market mover advantage is gone, Apple has not made a good iphone value proposition in years. Especially if you hold it wrong.

Apple was first to which market? There used to be a time when it was the Apple fanboys that claimed Apple was first to market.

First to the "everyday smartphone" market. Kinda. It didn't do anything very well at launch, not even copy/paste, but it was still awesome at the time

Re: Apple to wind down electric car effort after decadelong odyssey

#706
post #567
post #464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because parents didn't want to buy an entire flagship smartphone just for their 6yo to listen to music on the schoolbus. But they were okay with buying them an iPod. iPods were just mid-tier consumer-electronics expensive; which, back in ~2005, was nowhere near entry-level smartphone expensive, let alone flagship smartphone expensive. Then, after the iPhone started getting rev after rev, Apple's "lean manufacturing"…

> Because parents didn't want to buy an entire flagship smartphone just for their 6yo to listen to music on the schoolbus. But they were okay with buying them an iPod. Yep. Well said. The cost of a full phone + expensive plan is a lot. Plus kids wanted the apps (really games) the iPhone had. Apple wanted to sell them games. And besides that parents were far more hesitant to give young kids phones than (for better or…

And further, buying your kid an iPod Touch at the time served the same purpose (for Apple) as buying your kid an iPad today. It gets them into Apple's products space, develops brand affinity and trust, and gets them familiar with iOS so that they are more likely to buy an iPhone.

It would be surprising if we had stats on iPad versus non-iPad kids and what percentage of them ended up being iPhone users, and those stats didn't show a strong correlation.

Re: Apple to wind down electric car effort after decadelong odyssey

#707

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe cars are inherently garish and tasteless.

Yep. Apple dodged a very uncool bullet here. Now make an e-bike, Tim Apple.

Just a button, would be better.

Like an AirTag but it does some home automation thing.

Re: Apple to wind down electric car effort after decadelong odyssey

#708

To be honest, I'm not sure what Apple could've brought to the table in regards to making an electric car. Apple's hardware design philosophies[1] don't really align with what consumers want in a car. Apple being less minimalistic than a Tesla — which is already at an extreme — is a hard sell. [1] Examples of what I mean: - Cars use faux materials all the time for cost and weight purposes, or even just looks (i.e. fak…

If anything Apple has been bringing buttons back, or innovating on them. Touch Bar was reverted to buttons. The iPhone Pro replaced a switch with a haptic feedback button (many Android phones simply have no equivalent button or switch.) Vision Pro got the “Digital Crown” from the Watch, which has that and a button rather than just a touchscreen. My guess is an Apple Car would have nice buttons and switches rather tha…

All my examples are current, and the list would've been much longer if it included their obsession with thinness on their previous set of laptops and phones.

Anyway, I was trying to illustrate that Apple's obsession with minimalism has resulted in a very sterile and boring design language that wouldn't necessarily translate to success in the car world. Vehicles are considered very personal expressions of taste (Which is subjective, I know).

Shiny chrome bits and fake air intakes etc. are added because consumers want them. Car companies do everything in their power to shave a penny here and there, yet time and time again they add these in because that's what consumers generally like. High-end cars are littered with shiny bits, bodywork creases, and even crystal (BMW). Stuff like this is the antithesis of good design at contemporary Apple.

Even the iPhone 1.0/2.0 had a fake chrome rim, and their old Macs had clear plastic and pin stripes!

I'm not saying fake chrome bits etc. are good/bad design, I'm saying consumers have spoken, and the most boring cars are all at the low-end with even lower margins. Teslas seem to be as minimal as the general consumer is willing to tolerate, and even they have something relatively exotic with the Cyber Truck.

Apple's current aesthetic isn't suited towards high-end cars, and they haven't proven otherwise with recent releases. I know some would love a minimal Apple car, but it would still be a very niche, expensive, and not very profitable proposition.

Re: Apple to wind down electric car effort after decadelong odyssey

#709

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My point exactly. It is such a locked down platform, that I cannot for the life of me understand why people fawn over iphones. They were first to market, but market mover advantage is gone, Apple has not made a good iphone value proposition in years. Especially if you hold it wrong.

“Hold it wrong” was an antenna issue on the iPhone 4, released in 2010 and discontinued more than 10 years ago in 2013. Might be time to move on from that one…

It’s also interesting to point that specific one out because it’s a somewhat widely held opinion that outside of that specific flaw that the iPhone 4 was one of the best industrial designs of the time. Everything else about the design was very iconic, long lasting, and influential to future generations of devices both inside and outside of Apple

Re: Apple to wind down electric car effort after decadelong odyssey

#710
post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that a car is on a different scale, but I think it's only in hindsight that a phone is obviously just a computer and that the user interface is important part.

Turn your thinking around. The only reason we still call it a phone is because that's what the original function was. They are pocket computers in everything but name. A significant percentage of the population doesn't even use them for voice calls anymore.

And yet we're fine having the draconic business model of phone carriers from the 90s and early aughts carried into the modern day, just wielded by Apple instead of AT&T.

Computers run software the user asks for, phones run the software the phone manufacturer allows it to.

Post reply on HN