The Apple Watch hasn’t even shipped to consumers yet and there’s been plenty of talk about Apple’s next potential entry into a new product category with the rumored Apple car on everyone’s mind. We discussed Apple’s car project in depth on this week’s 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcast and profiled the experts actually working on Apple’s car project earlier today.
So with all of this car talk out of Cupertino, what do you think? Should Apple invest in such a wildly different product category as an electric car would be or do you think Apple might be stretching itself too thin and should stick to improving the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and other products? Read on to catch up on the car story development and let us know what you think.
Earlier this month, minivans equipped with cameras leased by Apple started showing up in multiple cities potentially pointing to a Google Maps Street View feature for Apple Maps in the future. Shortly after that, though, an anonymous tip by someone claiming to work for Apple told Business Insider that Apple had a project that would “give Tesla a run for its money.” This followed a report that Apple and Tesla were waging an employee poaching war against each other.
The scope of the potential Apple car project became more when it was reported that Apple had a secret research lab where employees were actively researching automotive technology as the company hired the former head of research and development for Mercedes-Benz.
The Wall Street Journal later reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook had approved the car project with a staff of up to 1,000 people. Reuters added that Apple’s potential car would indeed feature autonomous driving functionality.
With Apple’s car project starting to take shape, we described the current electric car market and how Apple could make a dent in the product category, and the evidence that Apple is at least heavily investigating the product category for potentially building an electric car sometime in the future has stopped coming.
Our latest report profiling the experts actually working on the automobile project illustrates Apple’s intent to potentially enter the electric car market, not just develop car-integrated features like CarPlay.
After being the computer company known for making the Macintosh for decades, Apple reestablished itself with the iPod music player 15 years ago. The iPhone debuted in 2007 and has become the company’s driving force. The iPad defined the tablet category in 2010 and the Apple Watch will attempt to do the same for wearables in a few short weeks. Should the car be on the roadmap?
Let us know what you think in the poll below and tell us why in the comments.
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IMO, the battery technology has far-reaching potential, but as far as actually making a coach? Just buy Tesla, they’re on a good trajectory. I have no doubts that eventually Apple could have a decent vehicle, but the branding cross-over seems like it will forever be a very odd one.
By your logic, Apple should’ve bought Nokia or Blackberry to get into the smartphone business.
I don’t think his logic says that at all. Smartphones are just tiny computers with cellular radios, that’s not a big leap at all from a laptop. A car is a completely different technology.
Where do you think touchID came from? They bought another company. If they’re willing to buy Beats for their headphones or streaming music service, I can’t fathom why they wouldn’t buy Tesla (if Tesla was willing to sell).
Yeah, anyone who says “buy Tesla” or words to that effect is simply not thinking and has no idea about cars or car design, or the history of either IMO.
They just see Tesla, think that they personally kind of “like” Teslas cars, and make this stupid extrapolation that therefore this is all Apple needs to do is copy Tesla. It shows an astounding lack of imagination in my view.
It’s kind of like saying that Apple should have made a tablet like Microsofts failed crappy tablets, or a cell phone like Blackberry’s failed crappy phones. Instead Apple did what real designers do, which is re-imagine the entire concept of what a tablet or a cellphone is.
Let’s hope they do the same for a car and *don’t* come out with something like Tesla’s car, but instead come up with an entirely new approach.
Well said Gazoo Bee.
I don’t think Tesla can be equated to “crappy product manufacturers”.
I don’t actually care so much whether Apple gets into the car business, but I do care that they keep growing their earnings at a good pace, and there aren’t *that* many single product categories that can really move that needle. Cars are one, and they are one where technological innovation seems poised to make important differences in the coming few years. Tesla seems well-positioned for those changes, and so if Apple’s study of the matter indicates that buying Tesla is the most effective option, why not? (That said, I’m not sure Tesla can be bought at this point.) Otherwise, Apple can go it alone, or it can buy a couple of smaller players to build on, but I suspect either of those options will add years to product deployment.
I’m guessing at this point that last years rumors of Apple trying to buy Tesla weren’t that off, and that talks went nowhere. So now Apple might go it alone.
(The other industry I think Apple could have a chance with is financial services. Apple Pay is fairly small potatoes for now, but if they could grow it enough to make it essential to partners, and then back it will an “Apple Bank” (™-infringement) they could add a bank-sized business to their line.)
At $75 Billion it would be foolish to buy Tesla. Not saying they should, but it would make more sense to buy a bargain like Honda and then add all the technology to it over a decade.
Apple can do whatever the hell they want to do. Period. Anyone that thinks otherwise is not thinking rationally. They have upwards of 200B in cash, there is literally nothing any other company could do, that they couldn’t, if they chose to do so. People always say something narrow-minded like ‘oh Apple doesn’t know the first thing about such and such’, I have news for those people: there are plenty of highly skilled people in any field imaginable, that would be happy to work with Apple to change the world. Hire the talent, make the products, it’s that simple. I guess maybe it isn’t that simple, since people don’t see that it has, and will continue to happen for whatever products they decide to go into. Just go back to their Watch hiring… or their iPhone hiring… Not only new hires, but Apple has incredibly skilled, and highly intelligent people, that do their homework if they don’t know something. Jony Ive and his team studied horology to better understand how to design their product.
There are reasons to buy other companies and of course one is for the talent, but as Apple has said, they don’t need to buy any company, as they could do it themselves. They can simply hire talent, or get people from car companies which want to work at Apple, as they have been doing. Why in the world would you buy a company, if their vision isn’t near your own, or if you think they aren’t doing it right? Get the talent, and build it the Apple way.
I don’t know why everyone is so excited about Tesla. They are losing money. The companies that are going to be more of a threat are the larger auto mfg that have distribution through their dealerships. BMW, Mercedes, Toyota, etc. have been working on autonomous electric cars, and it’s just a matter of time where they figure out what the sweet spot is in terms of price/performance/body styling, etc.
The biggest problem with electric cars is range, charging time and charging locations. Getting charging stations is going to take a long time to really get going, and then charging time. If we can go from an depleted battery to fully charged in the same time it takes to fill a large tank of gas, then they might have a chance, but that’s a long way off from achieving quick charging time. Then there is the range of the vehicle. As it stands now, you can’t go more than about an hour or two or so away from your home without starting to worry if you are going to make it back home without having to go somewhere to charge the battery long enough to drive home.
Electric motors is probably the easiest part, since they are pretty simple designs vs a combustion engine. The transmission is easy, it’s more of the chassis, battery technology and then being able to have really nice interior.
After seeing that new Mercedes Benz concept car they showed at CES, I’d be worried about what Mercedes is working on, they seem like they are pushing the envelop in many ways.
Apple has always prided itself on innovation, motivation, and moving forward into the unknown. If they do not move into new and diversified products, then all that pride is just cheap talk. If they try and fail, at least they tried.
That’s the idea: Reinvent the automobile, not copy or continue working on existing projects.
Maybe Apple finally figures out where to add a fifth wheel to an automobile. :-)
And maybe use a large ipad as the steering wheel.
I saw an electric car design in 1976 in England that had only three wheels, and it was brilliant.
The third wheel was the driving wheel and had the motor *inside* the wheel so there was no loss of energy due to the linkage that’s usually required. The power wheel was also a “flywheel” though, so that whenever you were going downhill, the flywheel was free and the car was charging, and whenever you were going uphill, you used the battery and the stored energy.
There have been reams and reams of innovations and interesting ideas in electric vehicles over the decades people have been trying to make them mainstream. People who think Tesla is something “new” or “innovative” rub me the wrong way for that reason. Literally nothing Tesla is doing (design-wise) is really new at all.
absolutely not. Maybe after a few phones with consistent all day battery life they should consider.
I’ve always had all-day battery life since the iPhone 4…. there are always going to be people who over use their phones so much they can’t get all day life, and that’s true with any smartphone brand or platform out there.
Which is why they should make a battery edition phone. A iPhone that is thicker and has a much longer battery life. I’d gladly take the thickness of the iPhone 4 again if it got me double or more battery.
@ Dafty Punk: Nah, making a special “battery edition” phone for the few that want it would be dumb.
There are like a half dozen after-market alternatives you can buy that do exactly what you want (battery cases), and they are comparatively cheap.
Agreed. I’d rather have user replaceable batteries than to purchase a battery version. I have a battery case for my 6+ but no way in hell do I want to carry that around daily. Only when I know I’m going to be in a high-use, low-power-outlet situation, like when all-day traveling. Otherwise, it’s a Caudabe Veil all the way!
I’d like to take the third option:
No, they should produce patented parts which are so outstanding they become standard inclusions in tomorrow’s electric vehicles… Like Bosch does.
It’s a huge money spinner, and there’s no need for them to become the new Tesla, when they can produce refined core technologies and sell them to existing auto makers.
I agree…. Why build the whole car and deal with all that that entails, things they’ve never dealt with before like safety and crash testing, etc… It’s a huge leap to make a car if you’ve only ever made computers. But, Tesla has shown it IS possible.
Still, I think it makes more sense for Apple to develop something that is part of the car of tomorrow, not the whole car itself. Perhaps partnering with a car company? BMW has always had a fondness for Apple, maybe they will partner to make the self driving Bimmer? I trust BMW’s mechanicals much more than electronics, and Apple’s got the electronics and software skills. Maybe that makes sense?
Good to see you looking at it from another angle, but the patent system is such a mess that I would hate to see Apple miss an opportunity by relying on a broken patent system.
Steve Jobs tried to rely on patents to protect the iPhone IP and we see how that turned out.
How am I suggesting anyone ‘rely on the patent system’ any more than usual? Also, how does one NOT rely on the patent system? What’s the alternative?
Perhaps the word patent obscures the rest of the point for you – I’m saying they should build core components for vehicles, similar to the way Bosch does with many components from braking systems to electric motors.
Apple could position themselves as the vehicle control centre, providing any number of high-tech enhancements to an industry which in many ways, is still operating on principles from a century ago.
Why not? They built a phone without having the experience. They built retail stores without experience. I don’t have an issue with them trying – they hire experienced people and they move ahead with confidence and smarts.
They are experts at the supply chain. I very much see them farming out 100% of the manufacturing, just like they and the rest of the industry does with almost everything else these days.
If I had a quarter for every time someone said that Apple shouldn’t enter something because they lack the experience, I’d be a millionaire by now.
Lots of millionaire investors out there now who’ve trusted Apple to make great products and execute on great business models.
Not sure why anyone wouldn’t trust Apple to do cars right too.
I find the “They built a phone without having the experience” line to be quite silly. Apple built a mini computer that just happened to make phone calls. They already had experience building small consumer electronics with the iPod lineup. And what made the iPhone distinctly the iPhone was the software and SDK they made, which was already well within Apple’s wheelhouse.
“nd what made the iPhone distinctly the iPhone was the software and SDK they made, which was already well within Apple’s wheelhouse.”
And they’ll bring that same mindset / expertise to the Apple Car, or whatever major automotive project they have in the works.
I find that saying building an iPhone is “easy” after building computers silly. By that logic Microsoft should have had great a great smartphone and tablet OS long ago since they had the most dominant software Or HP should be a top smartphone vendor or Dell or Sony or anyone else. Tvs should be super easy for Lenovo, they really just have big screens with tiny computers inside that controller User Interface. Apple should also make a great gaming console because they are really just small computers like the Mac Mini but built for games.
Can you put up a poll asking people if they’d like rumor sites to stop spinning this rumor with nothing concrete to go off of? I’m sure the response would be close to 100%.
Nothing is certain of course, but I think, given the recent report of Apple poaching vehicle battery expertise from A123, there is concrete stuff to go off of;
http://www.aboveavalon.com/notes/2015/2/14/apple-wants-to-design-a-car-as-ambition-knows-no-bounds
They have plenty to go off of — do you even read the news?
Did you say this same thing for the watch? Which you now hold so dear.
I don’t think they *should,* but wouldn’t necessarily write them off if they did. But increasingly they do seem like they’re going to more obvious extremes than they used to in order to play catch-up to the competition rather furthering the perception (true or not) that they’re the catalyst for the competition.
What “catch up to the competition” do you speak of? A few software features inside Android? That’s really not hard to do, jailbreak coders have been doing it for years, Apple could have done it to, they just take their time. Everyone is actually playing catch-up to Apple in the ways that really matter like Touch ID, 64-Bit mobile processors, a fully realized mobile payment solution, etc…. Sure Motorola tried fingerprint first, but they did a terrible job of it and failed. Sure Google did mobile payments first, but again, very weak effort and few used it. This year in 2015 Android phones will finally have 64-bit, all playing catchup to the iPhone 5S / iOS 7.
You’re limiting your thinking to Android v Apple. Apple competes with a lot more companies, products and experiences than an Android phone and only going back pretty much just one year+ to make your citations and limiting it to one experience: tablet/phone. But to start with that experience, I’m thinking.. a phone the size of the competition’s, NFC, notifications, actively developing maps, and if this car rumor ends up being true, cars, a music streaming service, at one point a pretty bad social network, a watch. I’m not suggesting that when they do these things they do them poorly as I’m firmly entrenched in the Apple ecosystem and have a vested interest in them doing things well. I’m just saying that as a consumer and lover of tech goodness, subjectively, they feel more like they’re potentially coming out with stuff to compete with other stuff moreso than they have in the past. That is all.
My thoughts are this:
“For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,
For the want of a horse the rider was lost,
For the want of a rider the battle was lost,
For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail.” – Benjamin Franklin
We all know that Apple has more cash on hand than another other company in the world. However, this luxury doesn’t motivate them to hire more talented people so that they can continue to excel at all of their endeavours. Mac Mini update anyone? TV hobby anyone?
If they are going to continue to innovate in all of their other categories, then go on make a car. Although, I’m afraid that their future will more closely resemble Franklin’s words.
I know Americans have this myth where they invented everything, but actually that quote is NOT from Benjamin Franklin.
The origin goes back to the 1300’s, but the first time it took the form above was actually in Richard the 3rd’s time (around 1485 after the Battle of Bosworth).
Firstly, there’s no need to assume I’m an American. Let me tell you that I am not. Second, you can blame the first Google result because I wanted the entire poem and only knew the first line. It had it quoted to Benjamin Franklin and so I figured I might as well give him credit. So, sorry they got it wrong?
Ridiculous.
The biggest hurdle with advancing the AppleTV is not hardware or software or more “talented people”, the problem is content. Specifically, content that Apple doesn’t own (television programs, movies, etc.). And until the content owners/creators allow Apple access to their content, there isn’t much else for Apple to do in the space.
As to the Mac mini, my guess is that it just isn’t a big category/revenue stream for Apple. If Apple wanted to upgrade the mini in some way, it would. Clearly Apple just isn’t interested in the mini being a cutting edge computer. It’s not a lack of talent, Apple just doesn’t want to devote the resources.
To follow your reasoning, Apple shouldn’t do anything new because they’ll lose it all if they do.
As you point out, Apple has plenty of money, so why not spend a little of it looking at new industries? If anything, this latest car talk indicates that Apple is spending some of its hoard on new products and industries. Since they are so tight-lipped, this kind of rumor confirms that Apple isn’t afraid of taking Google-like “moon shots”; they just don’t make big announcements about them until they are ready.
Your not understanding my point. My examples weren’t challenges to be fought out in comments.
For me, we’re not even at the end of the poem – this car endeavour is only the first line.
We know Apple likes to keep everything in the family, and use the same people for project after project as needed. If the same group of people have to make a new flagship device for every category Apple is a part of each year or so, then by virtue of time less and less is spent on each project.
In reference to your last paragraph, this is exactly what I am saying. Apple needs to hire more people, but their not going to. I know they’ve hired a small group of people – 20 or so – even though they’ll need 5 times that if this is going to be a real thing that they pursue and update each year.
TD;LR I’m fine with Apple pursuing a Car project so long as they don’t let other projects suffer.
I think the folks at Cupertino must be laughing about this. I could see some car systems. I could see some map work. I find it preposterous that someone would think they want to build a car. Like someone said. Bloggers have taking this rumor to ludicrous levels.
It would be excellent click-bait. We are here aren’t we, lol!
Ha! Very true. D’oh!
Why NOT make a car? Now is the time to do so. It’s ridiculous to say it’s too late, or they can’t do it, or shouldn’t. The opposite is true. They should do it, this is the time, and it’s not too late. Cars are going to change immensely in the next 10-25 years, and this is the perfect time for a technology juggernaut to reinvent them, because the cars of the future are largely computer controlled, and driven, with numerous sensors, and the inside is a cocoon of entertainment instead of infotainment.
I voted no. But my answer is yes, as a proof of concept. Show others how to do it. Also, I think it has more to do with mapping and battery tech
Yeah, I believe Tesla has already done this providing their patents to anyone who wants to use them.
We all know they have the money to!
It’s a bit disingenuous to add the “should focus on current products, etc.” to the No selection. I want to see Apple continue to innovate but do not believe that the should work on a full-fledged Apple branded automobile. Maybe accessories for a car, but not from the tires up.
Well, Tesla already provides the power train systems to a few manufacturers including Mercedes-Benz. Apple might just stick their software and a shell on it. You should give the Happy Hour #2 a listen to, talks all about the avenues Apple has…
Maybe they should focus on fixing the issues with Yosemite Wi-Fi and iOS8 glitches – This new electric car project could possibly be the reason for so many issues with the technologies that Apple was built on.
What makes you think they aren’t fixing all those bugs non stop? Why do people always talk like that? Massive software systems have thousands of bugs, and they work to fix them on a priority basis, and are always working to fix bugs. It isn’t feasible to roll out updates for every single bug fix so they do it in batches, an update every few months with a slew of fixes. Since iOS 8 was released, I count at least 5 updates. That’s like an update every month. Unfortunately in this day and age, software is always released before it’s fully ready for business/financial reasons.
For some reason people think there are 5 guys at Apple, so if they’re doing this, they can’t be doing something else at the same time.
Somehow I don’t think the guys working on this car project are the same guys who squash Yosemite bugs.
Hey, go back a week and read the article on iOS 9 before commenting here.
Once Watch is done, Ive needs a new serious project. His mind needs constant design stimulation. We all know how much Ive cares about car design. I am not sure if they are going to commercially sell cars, but I am not surprised if they are building one. Apple’s expertise is design and technology packaging. There is plenty of compelling car technology but only Tesla so far managed to adopt it in a nice form – with help of many former Apple engineers by the way. Working on a project like this brings long term focus and I am sure many tech innovation by-products that Apple can use in all other products
The main thing that worries me about a future “Apple Car” is actually Apple’s (and Ive’s) design sensibility.
About the only thing we know vis a vis cars and Apple designers, is that Marc Newson designed one recently, and Jony Ive loves it. We also know that Ive drives a Bentley which he specifically likes because of the shape of the front end, and that the front end of the Bentley looks almost identical to Newson’s car design.
To me, Newson’s design is an ugly POS that I wouldn’t be caught dead in, so the fact that the two top designers at Apple think that a “good looking car” looks like a box with rounded corners is a bit frightening to me. I’ve always thought that if you design a car and it doesn’t look aerodynamic, you’ve made a mistake.
Oh please. Tim Cook isn’t going to green light a 1000 employees to work on a project just to stimulate Jony Ive’s brain. And design inside Apple is a collaborative effort. If people think Apple is going to make a car that looks like that silly thing Marc Newson did for Ford they’re nuts.
While I’m really 50/50 on the idea, and think it’s more likely they would just be working on some “part” of future car designs (like maybe the self driving brains of the car and all the internal UI stuff), I would love to see Apple try to make a whole car. Ive would be in heaven and they can hire as many experts as they need since they have more money than many countries, and a fully electric car like a Tesla is a lot simpler to design and build than traditional cars.
I think Apple engineers are already spread to thin. They need to hire more enigeers and developers to work on existing products. iOS needs many enhancements for the iPad.
For all the people saying Apple designed the iPhone, they actually designed the iPad first. It’s out of work on the iPad that the iPhone came into being.
With the shit roll out of CarPlay they need to focus on it first before moving to a car. HealthKit and Homekkt have also had very slow roll outs. Apple needs to focus on their current platforms, the. After they do that they can do some restructuring after they finish the Spaceship.
I think each product has it’s own entire department with its own group of engineers. I don’t think they spread them around unless it’s an emergency like we heard about last year. But in general, I think having a car project wouldn’t take anything away from any other product. They can afford to hire specifically for each group.
These appear to be mostly hardware engineers. I doubt they’re working on iPad software. R&D like this is good. It keeps top notch engineers from leaving and attracts new top notch talent. I’m sure making iPads slightly thinner and lighter is getting boring by now.
They have been hiring more engineers for the Car project, so that’s not an issue. They just hired someone from MB and they have others that came from other car mfg. It’ll be interesting if they do come out with an electric self driving car, but I think there are a lot of hurdles. The thing that Apple has is brand recognition (but not in the mfg of cars) and they have gobs of money to dump into it, so they could fund that division for a number of years until it reaches profitability.
You bring up CarPlay – this has nothing to do with Apple not putting enough resources, it has everything to do with the auto industry being crucial to Apple’s success/entry into said market. So, perhaps, an actual car will be a way to get the auto industry a bit more interested.
Designing and building a car is a very big process in itself. It’s an entire industry for a very good reason. So my bets are Apple isn’t exactly aiming after them. If it was, it’d have bought Tesla or some other car manufacturer (I’d love to hear Lotus or something equivalent :o) , but then their cars would just be way unreachable for the average consumer).
Unless… they’re going for a non-conventional vehicle for (sub)urban use. This would make much more sense, given their mentality. I mean… cars… most people commute alone or in twos. And for that you lob around 1.5 tonne of steel etc and you occupy 7-8sqm of road surface, plus safety distances.
I’d be very happy (and NOT surprised at all) if it turns out Apple is looking into alternative means of transportation, like the Hiriko or some Toyota 3 wheelers we’ve seen recently.
Yes. They have to.
They need to create an additional revenue stream. The iPhone and iPad markets are only so big.
Creating a car will put Apple in a market that they don’t have a part of. Nothing but revenue. How else is apple supposed to grow?
To HELL with revenue. There are a lot of people there that could give a damn, including Cook, Ive, and likely most other executives, not to mention the thousands of engineers and other people they have working there. Yes, Cook has to make the stockholders happy, but it’s far from his number one focus I guarantee that. A lot of these people want to change the world.
No, definitely not. But they should make complete car systems (including window regulators, AC, fuel gauge, sound system etc.), not just CarPlay.
I hate this idea and I think it goes against Apple DNA. Apple isn’t a company to make the little things and give them to everyone to implement. Hence why OS X and iOS are only on their hardware. They understand that software and hardware must intrinsically go together. They most be designed together, as one, or to become as close to one as possible. Blurring the lines between the software and hardware by the insanely deep integration of design, engineering, and services.
If anything, I think CarPlay was an experiment or a realization, or both, that they can’t give software to everyone, to put in their hardware, because it just doesn’t work right. It doesn’t feel right, and you can’t change the driving experience much with that. Maybe they realized they needed to build a car to change the experience.
Someone who gets it.
I hope you’re wrong. This is what annoys me most with Apple, that they want to keep everything in their own system. That makes things better sometimes, I agree there, but at the same times often very frustrating and limited.
Yeah what we need is a million dollar Yugo. Apple is only known for charging 5 x what everyone else charges for a inferior product. Oh but urs cool its from crapple. No it would be huge failure its one thing to pay $1200 for a $400 laptop another to pay $80000 for a $20000 car. Most apple consumer they are cool because they got took.
I often wonder. How many apple guys do you get over on the Android forums constantly bitching about how Android is worse, etc?
Not many I bet. If Android made you a happier person, you wouldn’t come here looking for a fight.
You really don’t have a clue as to how successful products actually come to be, do you? Anyone who argues “people who use Apple products got taken to the cleaners, etc.” have zero argument.
And, apparently, enjoy spending their time on Apple centric sites trolling.
$400 laptops aren’t running the higher end processors with higher resolution screens with faster SSD storage and Thunderbolt, and higher amounts of ram, etc. etc. What $400 laptop has the EXACT same specs as a $1200 Apple laptop? Make sure you are comparing a name brand laptop that’s not discounted. I’ll bet you can’t actually show me a brand new $400 MSRP laptop with the same specs as a $1200 MSRP Apple laptop.
Seriously, show me one that supports your THEORY.
9 hours later, and crickets. Love it.
I want Apple to built a flying car!
I think apple could make a great car if they wanted to, but should they? Thats really the question. What would their margins be like? Lot of automotive brands fluctuate between 8-14%, Ive heard Tesla has been around 20-25% recently, which is def more the route Apple would try and go.
My main issue with Apple making a car is the branding. Apple Car? iCar? doesn’t fit. I think if Apple made a sub-brand for their Automotive division that would be better. Most car companies/names/models have a “masculine, aggressive” name. (M4, RS5, Aventador, SLS AMG etc) Apple car with a little fruit logo on the car would look really…not cool lol. Just my 2 cents.
Heard of the 3GS, 4S, 5C, 6+, etc ?
Several thoughts:
Advertising- It’s OK to have ads on a device, but on my car? No thanks.
Cost- Apple used to make affordable and powerful products until the middle of the 90s. Now they serve a high end niche market. I don’t think that this nor the Watch will be successful unless a marketable price point is reached.
Production- Apple has the capital to pull this off but going from 0 to producing large amount of cars is insane.
Distribution- Where would you buy one of these? Expanding into distribution is a moon shot as well.
I think this is an unrealistic rumor.
What if we are thinking of this too narrowly, Apple is unlikely to make a car as we now think of a car, that is clear. What if Apple is chasing the Jetsons’ Autonomous Flying Transportation vehicle instead? I don’t see Ford and Toyota talking about that in their line up in 5 years, but could Apple do it? They have very little to lose. These new type of vehicles would not be cheap, will require a new way of thinking about transportation, a bunch of new technologies, a new ecosystem, new ways to entertain the occupants and new ways for them to communicate, amng other things. If the project fails and never launches, so Apple loses a few millions; maybe less than in the Sapphire experiment, but the potential upside is so huge. What is 1% of the personal transportation vehicle market? Remeber Steve only needed 1% of the phone market, could Apple get 1% of the transportation vehicle market?
Disruptors like Apple enter mature markets that are transition. Can you think of a more mature market then the automobile? The transition? Whether you like or not, the oil powered, human controlled cars are not the future. Software/computer controlled electric powered vehicles are. Yes the same software Apple is so good at. Laws and regulations allowing self-driving vehicles cars are being drafted both for the road and the air. It will be a few years before it’s all legal, and maybe even required. What would you think today (2015) of a pilot who insisted on flying by hand and refused to engage an airplane auto pilot? Would you fly an airline that advertised: “Our planes don’t have auto pilot systems”? There will be a few early attempts and then Apple will be ready with a solution that in some ways, goes beyond what everyone has already attempted. I think we have seen that movie a few times now. If it’s an area where consumers interact with a software controlled device, I think Apple as a play and I can see a transportation vehicle that fits that category in the future. Will be interesting to watch.
Electric cars is right up Apple’s alley.
The technology is there, I really think that the regular auto makers have missed the mark. Of all the electric cars made by auto manufactures the best is the Nissan Leaf?
How can Tesla be so good and the rest of the auto makers can’t come close? Yes some of it is price, the Telsa is $100,000 while the others are in the 30,000 to $70,000 range.
Frankly look at the Cadillac electric car, just like the volt it’s a joke.
Apple can be just like Tesla and shake things up and force everyone to be better.
Once Tesla’s giga-factory is up and running the Model III (Model S, Gen 3) will only cost $35,000 before tax breaks. Then in most states, people will see a $10,000 tax incentive bringing the price to $25k.
So, I don’t know if it’s really price thats stopping the competition from getting their act together.
Apple’s car won’t have a serviceable battery. Passenger seats will be high priced accessories and the car won’t charge unless the seats are made by an MFC approved partner. The windows won’t roll down (who needs windows when you have heat and AC?) There won’t be a glove box because everything should be on your iPhone or iPad. It will only play iTunes and Beats Streaming. The entertainment package will only reliably play videos bought through iTunes. A spare tire is an extra accessory. The airbags will deploy in a way that ensures 100% survivability in most crashes, but it will be deployed during very low speeds collisions from any angle and will total the car by virtue of being extremely expensive to reset. Cup holders will allow for something as wide as a 12oz can, but nothing more. It will be pushed back toward your elbows to allow for a more streamlined dash. The center console will be ultra-smooth and multi-touch gesture capable. It’ll be beautiful and really hard to use when driving. Changing your own brake pads will void the warranty.
Why did you even bother visiting (and potentially reading) this page if you disdain Apple so much? Go troll around another fan site.
Because I like Apple’s OS. I like the software for the most part. I don’t appreciate how Apple “simplifies” product in ways that don’t benefit consumers. That’s why I don’t want to see them get into the hardware business of selling cars. I’m a significant AAPL stockholder, so I don’t want them moving into areas where they have nothing to offer. Buying up car biz executives and playing with dashboard electronics doesn’t make you a car company. I read this page and responded because it was a POLL. This IS my fan site ;)
They are working on a Back to the Future style hover vehicle.
Without knowing much details on Apple’s plan its pretty hard to spit out a yes or no on anything beyond purchase desire. The car market is extremely saturated. Competition is at levels not scene by current Apple products. In the phone/computer industry middle class can swing for a premium product because it only costs them a few hundred or so more than the alternative. In the car industry the middle class wont be able to touch an Apple premium priced vehicle. That will likely run 75K or more making it wildly more exprensive than middle level makes/models. So that leaves an Apple Car to only the extremely wealthy. I dont think Apple wants to play in the elite car field.
I really think Apple should. They know how to make an innovative and user friendly interface. They also can find auto-engineers that would be willing to work on a car.
Auto-engineers that would be willing to work on a car. You don’t say?
There’s no 40% profit margin in selling cars.
An iPhone is more the 40%, buddy…
You sure of that? I know we get industry insiders who publish assumed cost of materials, but they never included the salaries for those that work on it, the R&D cost (and associated salaries), marketing, transportation of said items, cost of packaging material, etc.
To everyone commenting about Apple only working on a part of the car: Have you all forgotten Apple’s legacy of differentiating themselves and their products by controlling the Hardware and Software?
When Apple launched the iPhone it revolutionized the smartphone. Today the phone however is the least used feature. For many of us its unfathimable that Apple can get in to the car business. But Apple is just being Apple. It’s about to try its hand at the personal transportation industry. If the reports about the iCar are true my prediction is it will be called the iPod. The battery technology and sensor and camera technology all exists, Apple might buy Anki the AI and robotics company and scale its technology to real cars. In anki you define the objective and the AI engine and sensors take care of the rest. It could be revolutionary in terms of safety and energy/fuel. Siri 3d maps easy controls fuel …if anyone can take a shot at it its Apple and with the money they have they should and they will be good at it. There is no guarantee that it will be a hit. But hey what are they going to do with their money? How long will they keep on selling record number of iPhones.
Whats the next step? A motorcycle? Refrigerator? Microwave?
Will Apple be the next Samsung?
Should Apple build electric cars? Heck Yah!!! As long as when I hit a pothole, my windshield doesn’t shatter.