Elon Musk Backtracks on Earlier Comments, Says 'I Don't Hate Apple'

Benjamin Frost said:
Tesla cars, like all electric cars, are totally impractical for everyday use.

When electric cars can be charged from 0%-100% in 2 minutes, when the battery doesn't cost a fortune to replace every few years, when there are charging stations installed in every single parking space and garage, and when the range is 400-600 miles a charge consistently for ten years, then they may take off.

Until then, they are government-subsidised trinkets for rich men with time on their hands.
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Patently stupid response from someone with no knowledge of how electric vehicles like Tesla work. Do you fill your gas tank every single time you stop? Do you only drive 400-600 miles at a time? Do you insist on gas pumps in every parking spot? 90+% of car drivers only need to charge every few days. No different than filling with gas today. Difference is that you can charge more often and for much cheaper than gas. Are you going to insist that the iPhone charge in two minutes, while also lasting days in between charges? GTFO with that nonsense. It's a good thing you have no hand in any decision making at all or nothing would get done. Is the Tesla expensive? Yes. Are you jealous that you can't get one? Yes.
 
iZac said:
... Even if Apple hired people Tesla fired - even if they're nearly incompetent, they will still have value in their accrued personal and professional experience within the company. Apple is in the unusual position that it's playing catch-up, much like the likes of Samsung when they poach ex Apple employees.
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In what way is it an "unusual position" for Apple? Did Apple not hire people with mobile phone expertise when they were developing the iPhone?
 
Or he fears he's done a "Ratners"

Gerald Ratner, basically lost the retail chain in a speech claiming,

"We also do cut-glass sherry decanters complete with six glasses on a silver-plated tray that your butler can serve you drinks on, all for £4.95. People say, "How can you sell this for such a low price?", I say, "because it's total crap."

and that some earrings were "cheaper than an M&S prawn sandwich but probably wouldn't last as long."

It was all meant in jest in the context of the whole speech, but it basically destroyed the business.

perhaps Musk is 'clearing up' his comments to avoid a similar misrepresentation?
 
hleewell said:
Googled Apple project Titan a few minutes ago and the engine gave me this

maxresdefault.jpg


I don't know.....
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Very likely as there are no windows and looks like the iCar Air plus lack basic thing you will expect in a traditional car: no seatbelts, therefore you are secured by accepting the user terms and conditions that you will never ever sue Apple even you were previously engaged in a VW miracle.
The Apple Car requires a Titan Drone to come a pick your car by the massive aluminum cylinders that are not wheels even they look like typical ones, because the guy with the European English accent wanted to do something unique while classical therefore no matter how good or bad your roads are you will never ever need to fill your iCar with Air or any other fluid. Battery life is top notch in the industry, like nothing ever done before, Apple partnered with the best automotive battery company in the world: our friends at ?????
 
Keirasplace said:
You got it backward...

IT IS HIS CLIENTS or the much bigger group of POTENTIAL ONES that forced him to apologize.

Not only that, he ragged on ex-employees, many at the top of their field; they could have left for a myriad of reasons, including possible their boss being a dick. They probably didn't share that with him.

When recruiting, you need to be mindful of what image your company projects; Musk's words were very bad for recruitment purposes.

Also, Tesla's main demos are a niche of Apple's demo and he knows it.
That's even more the case for the Apple Watch, which makes the whole comment even more weird.

Apple clients are brand loyal and
Pissing on their brand is not a good way to
sell his cars to them in the future.

You do know he has to sell those cars.

He did a PR boo boo and needed to fix it.
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Except he didn't backtrack on the comments about the employees, just the ones about Apple. Now he's praising Apple and saying they'll make good products and even the watch is beautiful and will come good with later revisions.

Yeah, it's because Apples customers have incredible brand loyalty. That's the "whatever the reason" I was alluding to. That brand loyalty makes Apple untouchable. They can enter anybody's market and whoever is in there currently has to sit and watch and never say anything bad about Apple.

Meanwhile, all of their competitors are regularly slammed and shamed for one thing or another (usually Google). Those companies take it on the chin and continue to be successful and to build massive brands despite it.
 
doelcm82 said:
And a lot of people are waiting for Model 3 from Tesla.
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Not really a great comparison. The Model S was ahead of its time when it was first released in 2012 and frankly still is. The watch was received with a lot of "meh" until it can function independent from the phone.
 
iLoveiTunes said:
Is this the going trend these days ? Make a nasty statement and then backtrack the very next day ?

Sorkin..Musk... I wonder who is next in Line :D
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Yes, this is the trend. People state what they really think then backtrack is the general public doesn't agree. That's why people like Trump are refreshing.
 
arggg14 said:
Not really a great comparison. The Model S was ahead of its time when it was first released in 2012 and frankly still is. The watch was received with a lot of "meh" until it can function independent from the phone.
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Comparing a car with a watch...
In this case both have the battery technology, touch screens, some electric motors and all in different proportions and functionality.
Price wise there is huge difference, and when comparing them if I had the funds I will buy a Tesla car before any Apple Watch.
 
Silicon Valley Sources Refute Elon Musk Claims about Apple

Tesla CEO Elon Musk told the world Friday that Apple has been hiring people fired from Tesla, that Apple is jokingly known as the Tesla Graveyard. That's not the story I've been hearing for some time from my sources. My understanding is that many people have been leaving Tesla to go to a variety of other companies, and not just to Apple.

"Important engineers?" Mr. Musk told Handlesblatt when asked about Apple poaching employees from Tesla. "They have hired people we've fired. We always jokingly call Apple the 'Tesla Graveyard.' If you don't make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple. I'm not kidding."

"That's total BS," is how one source with intimate familiarity of the situation put it when I asked about Mr. Musk's comment.

Which isn't to say that Tesla hasn't fired anyone and that some of those people have then been hired by Apple and/or other Silicon Valley firms. I don't know one way or another if that scenario has played out, but I'd be shocked if it weren't true in some capacity. Silicon Valley is extraordinarily competitive at the moment, and it's a worker-dominated market.

But the idea that Apple has been relegated to picking up Tesla's rejects flies in the face of everything I've been tracking on the Apple Car story. What I've been told is that Apple has been aggressively recruiting with a rigorous hiring process, and that the company has found a receptive audience in some corners of Tesla.

If I was the nit-picking sort, I'm pretty sure that would make Apple the 'Tesla Heaven,' not the 'Tesla Graveyard.'
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