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The auto industry as a whole is a ****-show. Its a very antiquated industry ran by very antiquated individuals with very very different mind sets than the people at Apple. Which is why Elon is having a hell of a time. Trying to make a dent in a 100 year old industry is not easy, especially for Apple who like to retain tons of control over things. Think about how slowly cars evolve. Year to year changes are small. Which is why phones are becoming that way. The smartphone industry is now getting mature and with that comes less and less change year over year.
 
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I guess you haven't spent anytime in a dysfunctional corporation with cash to burn. Like many CEO's before him, TC isn't a leader that possesses a focused vision other than 'growth for growths sake'. This pursuit of growth (combined with their arrogance of past success) blinds many within the organization to the realities and pitfalls of new projects. Not to mention the negative effect it has on actually producing great products.

Actually I have and probably more than you have assumed. You missed the sarcasm in my post completely.
 
Why would you start trying to build an entire car, then backtrack? You would think they'd evaluate it before wasting resources and time.

Clearly, they thought otherwise when hiring more than 200 employees (including former Tesla employees) for said project.
Priorities changes. Have you never had a corporate job?
Not building an entire car can have a million different reasons. Their stock price being lower than a year ago is one reason. One of a million reasons.
 
Apple 5-8 years ago. But my interest in Apple isn't based on [pumping] their stock price, so we're going to be polar opposites on this topic.
What products were better 5-8 years ago? Don't say the iPhone, because that is laughable.

Your interest seems to be holding on the previous iterations of the Mac, which is a large business, but a small part of Apple's overall business and will not be emphasized as much. Times change.
 
I think some kind of announcement is near. Apple will do something similar to Tesla model 3, announce then preorders for two years while they test on road.
[doublepost=1548345441][/doublepost]Worth putting this in perspective. iPad was in the works around 2002, but it was shelved. It wasn’t until around 2005 that project was revitalised as iPhone. Timing is important.
 
I hope that whatever product/service this is leading toward, it incorporates their AR efforts too.

An overlay on my windshield, laying down arrows on the road leading me to my destination if I choose to drive myself, bringing up info on businesses/buildings that I point to, showing other info or warnings.... this would be really cool.

Probably another decade down the road, given Apple’s pace of innovation lately.
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If they are smart, they'll release it as an OEM option for car manufacturers. That will be a first (other than the failed Mac clone program). Apple does not need to get into building cars. They should focus on what they do best... the technology aspect.

While the idea sounds nice, I don’t think car manufacturers would be down for that. Just look how long it took manufacturers to implement CarPlay, and that’s just the infotainment center. They will have a much harder time opening up their car to Apple, who would have total control over how the car drives. They will likely end up developing their own, instead of paying Apple to use theirs.
 
Those parts read like typical corporate damage control PR to me. "Our failure was exactly the way we wanted it, everything is awesome!"

Reads like a blind Apple hate comment to me.

Hiring a former Tesla Exec, and then scrapping the whole project. So what’s he going to do after Apple just hired him?
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Not in my future. I enjoy being behind the wheel

I’m sure you do when it’s 2 hour bumper to bumper traffic.

As a previous Tesla owner with Autopilot. Yes, it’s certainly fun to drive. But there are times you don’t (long drives, and traffic) and having the car take over in those instances is akin to picking up an iPhone for the first time.
 
Apple makes billions of dollars. Blaming the revenue guidance seems misplaced.
 
Your first sentence says it all, why would you start to build a car?
Apple does one thing well (very well indeed) and that is computers. All its products are computers.
Perhaps all its success resulted in overconfidence and delusion.


Because a self driving car is really just a really big computer that happens to have wheels and seats. The computer in Google's car (according to presentation I watched) ranks in the last of the most powerful super computers in the world. It uses custom chips and burns about 2,500 watts of power. It is basically it's own small data center filled to GPU-like chips. The computer is worth 100X the price of the car. There is a LOT of software in that computer. Again interns of value and cost the car is a cheap add-on to the computer.

There is still the unsolved problem of how the passenger controls the car. A full level five car would not have a steering wheel. What kind of user interface would work.

There is a lot Apple can do The problem is the huge cost. An likely decades of commitment to the project before it will work.

Apple really needs new products. In 10 years cell phones will not be brinbgin in the cash they do today. The competition will be selling very nice $100 phones and Apple will not be able to compete.
 
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Wonder how many millions and millions and millions they’ve wasted on this failed project now?

Don’t know why people going in about Tesla? They are a POS IMO and Elon is an arrogant idiot! Who likes to publically slander those who don’t like his ideas...

I doubt Apple is working on a car when BMW are rumoured even to have told them where to go.

Apple has already indicated it wants its future in health, not cars.

At the most I believe Apple are working on some sort of car tech. That’s all. Not entire self driving cars.
 
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Forget it! Five years without making a new MacPro. How can they make a car. I never believe them.
Not only that but each computer that came all have their problems. I don’t think Apple isn’t able building a good computer anymore.

Happy funeral Mac :(
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Tesla can build a car from the ground up, so anyone can.

A car is no longer just a mean of transportation. It's getting smarter and more personal. A smart autonomous car which can take its owner everywhere without a driver is the future. For example, an apple car that connect to apple watch, which know the owner's health, can take the owner to the hospital in case it detect illness. You don't know what a smart car can do until they show you, just like you didn't know what a smart phone was capable of until Apple shows us.

Wireless router, monitors,... are old stuffs. There are others who can do these better than Apple. These are not Apple's core business anymore. And it takes a lot of effort to enter and lead an existing market.

In order to lead the world and open new chapter, Apple need to enter another new market first, just like it did with the iPod, iPhone, Apple Watch, and iPad. There's a lot of risk in new market, but the opportunity is high.

Microsoft and Google are also researching the autonomous vehicles market (Google is doing it). If Apple doesn't do it, Apple will fall behind once Microsoft and Google make their own autonomous car or cooperate with an auto manufacturer.

The autonomous vehicle involves AI, which is Apple's focus now. Apple has been working hard on AI lately, so definitely it needs to at least own an autonomous vehicles software.
First the rumors said Apple will introduce a car by 2019 then it was 2020... today they’re to be rumored to unveil it in 2025. Sorry to say, but this project is doomed.

Tesla has been doing very well imho. It’s able to compete with the German, Japanese, Korean and Chinese car manufacturers. Something I can’t say of any other American brand. On the software side, Tesla is also showing innovation at a much rapid speed as Apple is showing lately.

And when Tesla won’t succeed... it did an tremendous job in transforming the car industry.

What Tesla means for cars is what Apple used to mean in computers for me.
 
The recent revenue guidance really has them shook. Looks like they are cutting high cost programs for shareholders. Unfortunately, iPhone is at peak saturation.

People are reading VASTLY more into this than is justified. Look at what the Apple spokesperson said, not the journalist analysis (including click-bait words like "layoff").
To me this looks as much as anything else like small teams being moved from cars to other departments where they will liase with the car team. ML, Maps, even Apple's data warehouse team --- all of them will be providing infrastructure that's relevant to the car project, and it just makes sense to have reps from the car team present, people who know what those special requirements are.

The days when Apple could create a new product that starts off utterly isolated from the rest of the company are gone. The last project like that was probably the Watch --- and one result was a "problematic" first year with APIs that were way too weak, and not nearly enough tight integration with the phone. The car will have to be brought into being using a very different methodology; not a bunch of pirates living in their own building and not talking to anyone, but with deep links from day one into many aspects of the company's expertise.

Partly this is because of actual functionality (obviously the car will need massive ML expertise, and deep integration with Maps) but it's also because people will expect (especially in a device that costs, what, $50,000? $100, 000?) that on the day they buy it, it offers superb integration with their iPhone, with Find My Apple Device, with Find Friends, with HomeKit, with... If you can imagine some way that your car should somehow work better with your existing Apple eco-system, people are going to want that in the Apple car. (eg I can Summon a Tesla on an iPhone. At the very least Apple Car needs to have that functionality. But I probably also want that functionality on my aWatch, since my aWatch is frequently more convenient to access than my iPhone).
And they're going to want it on day one, not with a shrug that "well, hopefully it'll be there in CarOS 3.0 when I buy my second Apple car two years from now"...
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Unfortunately, the media will spin this as Apple letting employees go, when clearly they are not doing that, but moving staffing assets around to areas that will have a quick return on the investment.

And I firmly believe they are not set on building a car, but a "car platform"... the best that the market will see. If they are smart, they'll release it as an OEM option for car manufacturers. That will be a first (other than the failed Mac clone program). Apple does not need to get into building cars. They should focus on what they do best... the technology aspect.

Yes and no.
You are thinking platform as something like x86+Windows -- you sell it some OEMs and they build PCs.
Think platform as iPhone. Apple does not BUILD iPhones; they design iPhones and they design flows that can build iPhones. The ACTUAL building happens in China, done by Foxconn or Pegatron or whoever.

The same thing will happen with the car. It will be designed by Apple. The manufacturing flow will be designed by Apple, working with a (probably Chinese) auto manufacturer, but the actual grunt work of manufacturing will happen in someone else's factory. No Elon Musk nightmares of tent warehouses and difficulty figuring out how to move auto bodies from one station to another.

(And if you think China can't make cars now, or can't make nice cars, well, might I respectfully suggest that you actually VISIT China before sharing your opinion...)
 
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Why Apple, a company with absolutely zero capabilities in car manufacturing and/or AI development has to build automotive AI is beyond me. Where's the core competency? How does it fit into the computer/mobile business?

I just find it laughable how Apple can't invest a few millions in new wireless routers, monitors, you name it as they're not 'core' enough to the business but somehow automotive AI is deserving billions?!

In an effort to hit a grand slam they forgot you need base hits.
 
Apple laying off folks. More confirmation that we are indeed in a bear market. My belly says Apple earnings next Tuesday might be worse than CEO Cook has prepared us for. Buckle up, there might be some turbulence ahead...
 
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