Also, given their hiring practices which include aggressive recruiting of people in autonomous vehicles, this car, or later versions of it is going to have significant autonomy. I say this would be a GREAT step for Apple.
Apple Gears Up to Challenge Tesla in Electric Cars
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Re: Apple Gears Up to Challenge Tesla in Electric Cars
#82Might explain Musk weird press conference earlier this week. Said he would need massive amounts of cash soon. Maybe he knew what's going on with Apple. Or just that he needs money for the battery factory.
He was asked in an interview not too long ago if he'd recommend to Apple that they get into the car business, and he said, "Yes, they should!" Odd response if he's expecting competition. I think an acquisition is much more likely, and it would also fall under the explanation of "we need a ton of money". I.e. we agreed to get bought by Apple because of their massive cash engine and operational expertise.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/b/1df875df-fb0c-4020-be...
Re: Apple Gears Up to Challenge Tesla in Electric Cars
#83If anything comes out of this, maybe electric cars will be seen as cool now that Apple is in on the market. Although I am not a fan of Apple itself and likely wont get an iCar, I hope this isn't a rumor.
I think Tesla has already done a great job of making electric cars cool. They've gone from being dismissed as golf carts for kooks and granola-eaters to being derided as overpowered playthings for the rich. That's a huge change!
Re: Apple Gears Up to Challenge Tesla in Electric Cars
#84I would say apple has no domain expertise and they should focus on what they focus on. This is positive news for the "future" no matter how it is seen. It might very well be the largest mistake Apple has ever done and seal its demise or the smartest move and they will be a global dominant company even more so than today...
Apple's domain expertise is design, supply chain management, and managing third party construction and assembly.
Re: Apple Gears Up to Challenge Tesla in Electric Cars
#85Possible downside: Apple could end up bidding against Tesla for employees, factories, and rare materials; increasing the price of electric cars and slowing Tesla's production and growth, while not producing many cars itself for some time.
When multiple companies compete for market share and consumer interest, prices typically drop.
Re: Apple Gears Up to Challenge Tesla in Electric Cars
#86On one hand, Apple is clearly not in their wheelhouse when it comes to vehicles - even Google has more experience than them. On the other hand, I would kill for an electric (or even hybrid) minivan. The Model-S with 2 extra seats just isn't enough room. On the gripping hand, look at how Apple played the industry and pundits on sapphire. Where is WSJ getting their info - they didn't even describe their sources.
Google only has experience in vehicles because they started up a vehicles program. If apple wants to get into vehicles, they have to start somewhere too. "they haven't done it before" is not a good reason why they aren't doing it.
The Google Maps ground truth projects gave them quite a lot of vehicle experience too (at least tangentially)...
Re: Apple Gears Up to Challenge Tesla in Electric Cars
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
The only domain expertise they had on phones was the itunes phone with motorola. And then they launched the iphone. Same goes for the ipod. Only thing they had expertise in was computers. And with computers becoming extremely important for cars, they might just have a chance. Just as much as google, and they don't have any particular domain knowledge either (ie. they have never sold a car before).
Computers aren't that important for cars. I'll gladly believe that Apple will produce a car with a completely amazing user experience for its center console. But I'll take a car with a less amazing user experience for its center console if it drives better, gets better mileage, has lower maintenance, costs tens of thousands of dollars less, and looks good on the outside. Apple has no expertise there, and it's a compl…
Hasn't Tesla shown that it's possible?
Again, we are talking about a company that took in 75 billion last quarter. If a scrappy upstart can get into the industry, I don't doubt Apple could.
Also, this is probably an automated Uber service so you can focus on your Apple devices, not the driving experience.
Re: Apple Gears Up to Challenge Tesla in Electric Cars
#88Apple hardware is generally beautiful and feels extremely well built, but usually makes a few key compromises of function for the sake of form, with the result that some of their gear is prone to failure after a surprisingly short period of time. Take pretty much every Apple cable ever made for example. They lack stress relief and, hence, tend to fall apart where they are stressed. Some of this can be blamed on Steve Jobs. Reportedly, it was Jobs who hated the look of stress relieved cables so much that he prevented Apple from adopting sensible cable designs. Hopefully Cook is less dogmatic in pursuing form over function.
Even so, I'd be wary of a buying a new car from a first-time auto manufacturer, especially one with Apple's track record of compromised function. I'd be afraid that Apple, in trying to set their car apart from the competition, would build a car that is either unsafe or doomed to early failure. I'm sure people will line up to buy the iCar just like every other iProduct, but it may well prove sensible not to be amongst the first!
Re: Apple Gears Up to Challenge Tesla in Electric Cars
#89Might explain Musk weird press conference earlier this week. Said he would need massive amounts of cash soon. Maybe he knew what's going on with Apple. Or just that he needs money for the battery factory.
He was asked in an interview not too long ago if he'd recommend to Apple that they get into the car business, and he said, "Yes, they should!" Odd response if he's expecting competition. I think an acquisition is much more likely, and it would also fall under the explanation of "we need a ton of money". I.e. we agreed to get bought by Apple because of their massive cash engine and operational expertise. http://www.bl…
Apple has ~200 billion in cash. Tesla's market cap is 25 billion. It definitely could be.
Re: Apple Gears Up to Challenge Tesla in Electric Cars
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
Of course at one point they had no domain expertise with phones...
They're really good at rectangular screens!
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