Good point. I just am not sure if you do a side by side comparison from start to finish on the manufacture and maintenance and running of an electric car how it stacks up against a traditional auto's impact on the environment over its lifetime. Sometimes you'd think one answer would be obvious but when you investigate you get a nasty surprise. Like I said I don't have the broader knowledge and experience to know the answer. Thanks for replying.
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Apple R&D Spending on Track to Top Record $10 Billion Amid Electric Vehicle Rumors
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The way cars are going, they're becoming more like computers. Who are the ones making the biggest strides in self-driving cars, which is the future? Google and Apple. Tesla a hybrid of a car and a computer.
A smart phone is a hybrid of a cell phone and a computer.
Apple is apparently better at seeing the future than you are.
It's funny, do people really the Apple exists just to please them? It is a business and only interested in growth and profit, not short term, long term. The leadership isn't stupid, it's pretty obvious to all that sales are down, but why does everyone think that if they just keep making computers for the next hundred years they will survive? The computer market has changed, sales are down everywhere, companies are diversifying. A car is a different product, but it's not that far removed from what they do if you consider their speciality - taking a product and making it better, easier to use, and something that everyone wants.
I used Apple computers for years, I haven't just jumped on the bandwagon and got a new iPhone, I had a Macintosh SE back in 87/88, and I've had a lot of desktops and laptops since. Today though I use an iPad, it does everything I need and I'm not tied to a desk. There isn't one thing I wish it did or that I can't do that I need to do. Sure they don't work for everyone but for me and many others desktops and laptops are a thing of the past. Apple are not going to bet the farm on a new laptop, not a chance, and if they did they would be destined to fail.
Just take a minute to think of all the great companies who revolutionised the way we did things, and consider where they are now. Most are either not so great or long dead. Most recently take companies such as Nokia and RIM. Mojo would have thought Blackberrys would die like they did? And Nokia was the phone company not that long ago, its failure to divserify damaged the financial infrastructure of an entire country - so many people lost their jobs over its demise.
Apple could keep the few of you most vocal people happy and just keep making computers, but the fact is their computers work just fine. Sure it's always nice to have something faster, slicker, thinner (maybe not....) but the fact is their computers do the job unless you are running the latest design software or editing audio or video files and really need something extra powerful. I don't upgrade my phone every year, just because a new one has come out doesn't mean my current one has changed one bit, it's just not as good as the newest.
The fact is Apple simply can't continue to make laptops for the few people who want them, the market is tiny, you can see that from previous ales figures and the way most manufacturers are seeing declining sales. In the same way they can't just rely on a new tablet, or phone, they need new markets. So what do they do? If they made domestic appliances you would get upset about that, and to be fair there is only so much you can do with a refrigerator, personally I have no desire for mine to tweet its contents or place its own orders, I simply want it to keep my food cold and fresh.
I don't know if a car is the right product, but it's better than making more tablets, phones, laptops, headphones, and software. If it gets it right then it's secure for another decade or beyond. If it gets it wrong it's spent some of the huge sums in the bank, but it still has plenty of other products to keep topping up the accounts.
I laughed when I read the 'scary' article about Google having a bigger market capitalisation. In the same way I laugh when the share price falls and people panic. It's not over, if they don't diversify it probably is on the way down, but they are diversifying. People moaned about the Watch, but it's selling, and it will keep selling. I don't want one but I don't care that they make it, I certainly don't cry and stamp my feet demanding to know where the new laptops are. If they did release new laptops people will moan they look the same, are not that much faster, and can't cook their supper. Apple can't really win if they try to please the few loudest, so they are doing what they do best - ignoring everyone, not giving out any hints and just investing in new products.
Apple may sell less phones than others, less tablets than others, but their margins are much bigger than many others as we all know. It wasn't that long ago that we were seeing reports about Apple having more profit from the smartphone market than all the other manufacturers put together. So they sell less, who cares, it's not about how many you sell but how much money you make. Their margins are stil really strong, they may be selling less of everything but the fact is they are stil making staggering amounts of profit, and they will continue to do so. If that's welling cars or domestic appliances it doesn't really matter,my hey just need to keep on making a profit.
I used Apple computers for years, I haven't just jumped on the bandwagon and got a new iPhone, I had a Macintosh SE back in 87/88, and I've had a lot of desktops and laptops since. Today though I use an iPad, it does everything I need and I'm not tied to a desk. There isn't one thing I wish it did or that I can't do that I need to do. Sure they don't work for everyone but for me and many others desktops and laptops are a thing of the past. Apple are not going to bet the farm on a new laptop, not a chance, and if they did they would be destined to fail.
Just take a minute to think of all the great companies who revolutionised the way we did things, and consider where they are now. Most are either not so great or long dead. Most recently take companies such as Nokia and RIM. Mojo would have thought Blackberrys would die like they did? And Nokia was the phone company not that long ago, its failure to divserify damaged the financial infrastructure of an entire country - so many people lost their jobs over its demise.
Apple could keep the few of you most vocal people happy and just keep making computers, but the fact is their computers work just fine. Sure it's always nice to have something faster, slicker, thinner (maybe not....) but the fact is their computers do the job unless you are running the latest design software or editing audio or video files and really need something extra powerful. I don't upgrade my phone every year, just because a new one has come out doesn't mean my current one has changed one bit, it's just not as good as the newest.
The fact is Apple simply can't continue to make laptops for the few people who want them, the market is tiny, you can see that from previous ales figures and the way most manufacturers are seeing declining sales. In the same way they can't just rely on a new tablet, or phone, they need new markets. So what do they do? If they made domestic appliances you would get upset about that, and to be fair there is only so much you can do with a refrigerator, personally I have no desire for mine to tweet its contents or place its own orders, I simply want it to keep my food cold and fresh.
I don't know if a car is the right product, but it's better than making more tablets, phones, laptops, headphones, and software. If it gets it right then it's secure for another decade or beyond. If it gets it wrong it's spent some of the huge sums in the bank, but it still has plenty of other products to keep topping up the accounts.
I laughed when I read the 'scary' article about Google having a bigger market capitalisation. In the same way I laugh when the share price falls and people panic. It's not over, if they don't diversify it probably is on the way down, but they are diversifying. People moaned about the Watch, but it's selling, and it will keep selling. I don't want one but I don't care that they make it, I certainly don't cry and stamp my feet demanding to know where the new laptops are. If they did release new laptops people will moan they look the same, are not that much faster, and can't cook their supper. Apple can't really win if they try to please the few loudest, so they are doing what they do best - ignoring everyone, not giving out any hints and just investing in new products.
Apple may sell less phones than others, less tablets than others, but their margins are much bigger than many others as we all know. It wasn't that long ago that we were seeing reports about Apple having more profit from the smartphone market than all the other manufacturers put together. So they sell less, who cares, it's not about how many you sell but how much money you make. Their margins are stil really strong, they may be selling less of everything but the fact is they are stil making staggering amounts of profit, and they will continue to do so. If that's welling cars or domestic appliances it doesn't really matter,my hey just need to keep on making a profit.
Apple's Jeff Williams has already referred to the car as the "ultimate mobile device". Modern electric cars are effectively mobile computers with wheels. If you can see where the automotive industry is headed, they are ripe for disruption.
You seem like a good person, so I respect what you have to say.
One advantage to electric, and self driving cars is the way traffic is handled on the road.
For one I'm sick of those smelly, slow tractor trailers that hold up traffic and cause a dangerous situation.
Yes we can ask if the R&D from 2013 to 2014 did produce "enough" results. I guess we would look at the watch, the new Apple TV, and things in the iPhone like touch ID and 3D touch and take a view if this was "enough". I don't know. Apple TV isn't very impressive. The Watch does dominate its market and the market is important. The A9 CPU is amazing and an industry leader in power and energy usage. Apple Pay is simply the best way to buy things I've ever seen. Maybe that is enough of a win on the innovation side.
I don't know if Apple has to respond to pace of change so much because it has to sell stuff in huge volumes. That means not the niche products. And Apple's brand as the company that makes stuff that just works really limits its ability to be innovative in the marketplace. It really doesn't want to release a failed piece of hardware. One can argue that they came kind of close when they released the Watch. I like and use mine, but there are tons of issues with it as a piece of hardware (namely two buttons on its side that folks rarely use).
Also Photos on OSX, a complete fiasco. Actually a lot of Apple apps are suffering, iWork is completely forgotten, iTunes a mess, Apple Music mess, etc etc.
I hope so, that's why they get the big bucks.
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Computers will be more pervasive in everything, including human functions. But a car remains a car, a chair remains a chair, and a computer remains a computer. That the car of the future will be more dependent on computers? well, of course.
As for Jeff Williams' quote... it's just hype, "Unapologetically plastic" and stuff like that... Apple gets (or pretends to be) excited even by nylon bands...
Just another way for Tim to 'drive' apple into the ditch. I guess that's what happens when you take a computer company and turn it into a phone company - then a fashion company.
Going to take a guess here; an apple car will be way too expensive for most people to buy. Catering to the rich was never Steve's plan.
Going to take a guess here; an apple car will be way too expensive for most people to buy. Catering to the rich was never Steve's plan.
Compare what kind of innovation they had in mid 2000 on really low R&D budget and now the budget is 10 times or more and what do they release? I know - we might not see yet what they research but still. the iPhone with that 'small' budget. And they have a really dated Mac Pro, MBP's, Display that is + 5 years old, reusing 4 year old iphone hardware design etc. They really need to pull a rabbit out the hat soon.
I hadn't thought about chip r&d, but by comparison Intel only spend circa $10bn a year on r&d. The other products you mention surely didn't cost $billions to bring to market (unless it includes the golden hello, srock options and salary for that waste of space Ahrendts).
Re adoption cycles, think about how fast music went from ipod to itunes to spotify, ipad from wow to mature market or even iphone from wow to saturated market...........
Whatever. I have seen "armchair psychs" fired from their job for giving a mental health evaluation to a co-worker in a work environment while they didn't have any clinical qualifications and licensees. In my jurisdiction, that is a civil liability.Ok, let's play your fun game. If you don't think Hololens is the future then you must have entered the dementia stage 2-3. I'd suggest to keep your money in the bank, they surely will better handle it than you.Hope it's fun enough for you.
Not asking for flames, as nobody on Macrumors knows for certain....
But based on what has come out, either its a terribly inefficient use of their R&D budget, or Apple is starving their traditional product lines as leverage against some unreleased SuperThunderStingCar vision.
Why is it that when a good thing reaches critical mass, some universal physics intervenes?
But based on what has come out, either its a terribly inefficient use of their R&D budget, or Apple is starving their traditional product lines as leverage against some unreleased SuperThunderStingCar vision.
Why is it that when a good thing reaches critical mass, some universal physics intervenes?
Yeah it is fast. And I think that is part of why Apple's stock trades at only 10 times earnings. It is because the market views their hardware as all susceptible to maturation and commodification. So the assumption and fear is that the Mac, iPad and iPhone will all have to eventually be sold at low margins or see the number of units sold decrease. The flip side to that argument is that Apple has been able to grow Macs and sell them at a premium for decades. And the PC market is much more mature than either the smartphone or tablet market.
True enough, but there's always room for a disrupter. Consider what GM was able to do to street trolleys, and the success Uber has had despite heavy regulation of the taxi business.
A major problem is, as always, labor disruption. A whole lot of people earn their livings behind the wheel. Fewer vehicles manufactured due to greater efficiency of use...
IMO, going the headset route for VR or AR is an approach that will only hit niche markets. To go mass market, you need a projection systems where little if any head-mounted equipment exists. This way, multiple people can witness a VR or AR experience with only a select few in the group controlling the experience. That is where I'm placing my money.
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Not really, that is the fun part of this forum.
A projection system would be neat, but it will be out of reach of general populace for decades. You would need a dedicated room in your home. But going VR makes a ton of sense for folks. Small stuff is innately cheaper. You can use it in a small and crowded apartment. And the experience can be communal since you can be together in the VR environment.
I hate to be that guy and I really don't want to see Apple become more then a computer company. But to be fair, Samsung did the exact same thing. They were originally a local grocery store and noodle producer in Korea... Now they have there hands in many different markets. Apple is the USA samsung, lets be real here. Apple has to ketch up, Samsung has had a car company since 1994, though if Apple's car company goes the way Samsung's car company went. I give Apple 6 years and then Apple sells it to another manufacturer.
There's always room, but I am very skeptic in the short to medium term. Just look at all the problems that Uber is having, and Uber is more a liberator than a disruptor ...
We also had phones before the iPhone. What's your point?
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I think you're missing the point. There is little to differentiate cars now, except for perhaps cosmetic styling, etc. Going forward, the computer systems and the user interface is likely to become more of a differentiator. This will especially be true when most cars are electric and perhaps have things like augmented reality, etc. If you think about it, Apple may be making the play into this market at just the right time.
Of course he was. You're just looking at it with the benefit of hindsight. In 20 years from now, when all cars are electric and self-driving, and nobody remembers what Ford or GM used to be, people will say: Musk wasn't really such a big deal: it was pretty obvious that cars were meant to be electric and drive themselves.