Apple Watch Chief Kevin Lynch to Work on Apple Car Development

[Robert.Walter]

When has Apple ever bought IP or a company and not rebuilt it from the ground up to make it fit their own brand? Why would anyone want an Apple Car if it didn't have some innovative software and hardware integration that made it stand out from a dozen Chinese clones?

I don’t think the issue isn’t what Apple have bought in the past or how they leveraged/integrated it but the opportunities exist for Apple to do it however they want to what ever degree they want with no real constraints besides their own decisions.

 

[Razorpit]

I Agree with you in parts if Apple doesnt want to slip into divident stock it has to look at other projects, But a Car isnt a very profitable business. Apple iPhone or Consumer electronics Business in general is Put X make 30-300% margin. Car Business simply doesnt have those numbers but more importantly it puts significant risk on the brand. If tomorrow an Apple car meets accident it would significantly tarnish Apple Brand then say Tesla which is still a budding brand and has an army of Elon Musk Fans. Also Apple is a more long term thinkign company they wouldnt build anything that doesnt give them any market advantage. A car isnt a Large iPhone, and Apple Doesnt have any strategic advantage to offer.

So many “journalists“ and “technologists“ said the same when Apple entered the phone market. Now look at it. Arguably one of the most important markets in the world now. They completely disrupted the camera, GPS, retail shopping, and entertainment markets.

Could a car tarnish Apple’s brand? Yes. Could it put Apple’s brand even higher in to the stratosphere? Yes. They just have to do it right. How much did Elon know about cars before Tesla? What’s Apple’s longterm plans? We don’t know. Heck we don’t know officially if there is even “a car”.

Do car companies fail? Sometimes they do when they are poorly run, or forget about their target market; Saturn, Pontiac, Dodge. On the other hand no one at Hyundai, Honda, BMW, or Jeep are standing in soup lines.

 

[EdT]

So many “journalists“ and “technologists“ said the same when Apple entered the phone market. Now look at it. Arguably one of the most important markets in the world now. They completely disrupted the camera, GPS, retail shopping, and entertainment markets.

Could a car tarnish Apple’s brand? Yes. Could it put Apple’s brand even higher in to the stratosphere? Yes. They just have to do it right. How much did Elon know about cars before Tesla? What’s Apple’s longterm plans? We don’t know. Heck we don’t know officially if there is even “a car”.

Do car companies fail? Sometimes they do when they are poorly run, or forget about their target market; Saturn, Pontiac, Dodge. On the other hand no one at Hyundai, Honda, BMW, or Jeep are standing in soup lines.

Elon/Tesla originally marketed a sports car. That happened to be electric motor/battery powered. But it was the sports car specifications that Tesla highlighted at first, zero to 60 time and top speed, not ecological or environmental features. People that buy performance vehicles are used to having fussy cars so an electric car at the performance level that the Roadster really did provide was a reliable vehicle compared to an ICE. And gave Tesla a test vehicle and customers to try new technology with that out of the gate their vehicle already performed better than most of the competition at that price point.

Apple had been making various forms of the IPod for a number of years before they released the iPhone, including ones with internet capabilities, web browsing and apps. Merging an iPod/music device with a cell phone was something that a number companies were close to doing when Apple released theirs. It was the user interface and app availability that set the iPhone apart from other smart phones that appeared within a year or so of the iPhones introduction that made it a success, an interface based on the lessons learned by iPod experience. Apple doesn’t have that type of crossover experience with cars and batteries. Assembly lines for electronics and ones for automobiles are different and Apple doesn’t have prior experience with a car assembly process. They can partner with an existing car company but that is a different path than what Apple has been doing since the Power-PC alliance broke up and Apple has basically bought a company if it needed to acquire outside experience.

Tesla has tried changing the assembly line system with varying degrees of success. Apple hasn’t had anything to either test or experiment with. I’m not worried too much about the electronic parts of a smart electric car, but there are ways and rules and regulations of assembling vehicles that Apple doesn’t know.

 

[Razorpit]

Elon/Tesla originally marketed a sports car. That happened to be electric motor/battery powered. But it was the sports car specifications that Tesla highlighted at first, zero to 60 time and top speed, not ecological or environmental features. People that buy performance vehicles are used to having fussy cars so an electric car at the performance level that the Roadster really did provide was a reliable vehicle compared to an ICE. And gave Tesla a test vehicle and customers to try new technology with that out of the gate their vehicle already performed better than most of the competition at that price point.

Apple had been making various forms of the IPod for a number of years before they released the iPhone, including ones with internet capabilities, web browsing and apps. Merging an iPod/music device with a cell phone was something that a number companies were close to doing when Apple released theirs. It was the user interface and app availability that set the iPhone apart from other smart phones that appeared within a year or so of the iPhones introduction that made it a success, an interface based on the lessons learned by iPod experience. Apple doesn’t have that type of crossover experience with cars and batteries. Assembly lines for electronics and ones for automobiles are different and Apple doesn’t have prior experience with a car assembly process. They can partner with an existing car company but that is a different path than what Apple has been doing since the Power-PC alliance broke up and Apple has basically bought a company if it needed to acquire outside experience.

Tesla has tried changing the assembly line system with varying degrees of success. Apple hasn’t had anything to either test or experiment with. I’m not worried too much about the electronic parts of a smart electric car, but there are ways and rules and regulations of assembling vehicles that Apple doesn’t know.

Don't forget the first Tesla's were Lotus'. Tesla needed help with a donor vehicle. Apple has a lot of resources available to them. Much more than Tesla had at their start.