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I wish Apple would have bought Tesla back then. The timing would have been perfect. And Apple had the cash to make it happen. Plus they would have all the self driving IP and user data. I think Apple goofed up by passing on Tesla, if true.
 
Tesla is going to get Dreamcasted when the Apple car appears. Elon might try dirty tricks because he is demented.

Jobs snubbed Elon too. Jobs could smell a rodent from a mile away.
Tesla > Apple in manufacturing
Tesla > Apple in practical design
Tesla > Apple meeting customer desires
Tesla > Apple speed of innovation

While Apple couldn't figure out how to make a charger for iPhone, Watch & Airpods, Tesla built a wholly owned factory in China and is producing Model 3 (now at a run rate of 300,000 cars per year). ONE YEAR LATER, they expanded the factory and have begun producing Model Y.

Apple products are great but they are not manufacturers.
 
Elon Musk confirming Tesla is a cash-burning company. It it wasn't for the new participants buying stock, the company would be under. Just like a ponzi scheme.

Tim Cook dodged a bullet!
 
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This blunder will soon be featured on a web site by someone named Paul Thurgood? Paul Trueblood? Can’t quite recall............
 
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And there is also this:

Story from 2019, reflecting on alleged bid in 2013:
2016:
2015:
2014:

That last link has this in it:
"Tesla CEO Elon Musk today confirmed in an interview with Bloomberg Television that his company "had conversations" with Apple."
Which to me sorta seems to contradict his "refused to take the meeting" statement.

In the end two things stand out to me:
1. Apple and Tesla _have_ talked about a merger or acquisition - it obviously has not happened.
2. Musk has sort of an obsession with Apple for some reason or another.
 
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I think Apple not purchasing Tesla will go down as one of the biggest mistakes in Apple's history. Their permanent magnet synchronous reluctance motor design is still unmatched by both performance and efficiency. And once the 4680 battery packs are in mass production, they'll be years ahead in battery tech too. This is all not accounting how far ahead they are in software, which I'd be willing to bet why Apple didn't purchase them, they probably felt they can do it better but they didn't expect Tesla software to get as good as it is.
Oh damn! Apple should really listen to you since you know what's best for them. With your help they probably might end up with a 2 trillion dollar valuation, but what do they know? 😂
 
EM is a jerk and a bigmouth. The only thing in which he is vaguely comparable to Steve Jobs is the very strong Reality Distorion Field that makes his fans - some of them in this very thread - believe everything he ever claims, much of which has never panned out. Full self-driving was originally supposed to be here when ... 2017? Tesla had a head start obviously because they didn’t have a massive ICE business to protect/convert, but once Toyota, VW et al. are full steam ahead, Tesla will be a footnote in automotive history; maybe it will survive as a boutique luxury car maker. FWIW, I absolutely don‘t expect Apple to ever make a car, but if they actually do, they must see a way to offer something new, something that none of the incumbents are able to; otherwise Apple wouldn‘t bother.
 
Tim Cook's hesitancy to make large acquisitions and instead focus on mainly organic growth is admirable. However, in hindsight, the analyst calls for Apple to purchase Netflix and Tesla many years ago seem like they would have been a good idea.

Apple has done just fine without making these purchases, but has been unable to grow revenue the past 4-5 years until the pandemic spurred growth. It would be interesting to know how a Netflix and Tesla purchase years ago would have changed Apple's course.

Disclaimer: Apple and Tesla are some of the largest portions of my portfolio.
This would have been a bad purchase by Apple for a whole host of reasons...

The most important reason though is Apple doesn't build things. They design things then outsource the manufacturing of those things to others to build. Picking up Tesla would have thrust them into building things and likely would have been a major drag on them and Tesla.

Even the car Apple is rumored to be working on will end up the same way if it ever gets released. Where Apple is designing major portions of the car and/or car systems and they'll let another manufacturer like BMW or Toyota handle the actual manufacturing piece.

You get as big and successful (and more importantly stay as such) by knowing your lane and staying in it. Not by being attracted to shiny lights that'll pull you into the ditch.
 
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No, Apple doesn't NEED Tesla. But the point of buying an established company in an industry that you want to enter is to get into the market faster. You pay a premium to move more quickly. Let's say the rumor is true and Apple starts making a small amount of cars in 2024, it will take them many years to ramp up production to get to a meaningful amount (to move the needle on Apple's overall revenue.) Maybe as long as 2030.

Had Apple purchased Tesla, and Tesla continues to grow production at a 50% rate (as they have historically), Apple would have a meaningful revenue number as early as 2023.
Apple is doing just fine. They don't need to get things done more quickly. They've already proven that. People said Apple should try and join forces with Microsoft and I've even seen posts and articles saying Apple should buy Intel, haha. Yeah Apple's new M1 proves that an Intel acquisition would've been laughable. It's funny how this forum is always fighting against Apple. I thought this was an Apple-enthusiast forum? Seems more like fingers constantly pointed at Apple and spitting their face along with members always blindly siding with Apple's competition even if doesn't make a lick of sense. SMH.
 
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And there is also this:

Story from 2019, reflecting on alleged bid in 2013:
2016:
2015:
2014:

That last link has this in it:

Which to me sorta seems to contradict his "refused to take the meeting" statement.

In the end two things stand out to me:
1. Apple and Tesla _have_ talked about a merger or acquisition - it obviously has not happened.
2. Musk has sort of an obsession with Apple for some reason or another.
Model 3 ramp was not 2014.
 
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Tesla > Apple in manufacturing
Tesla > Apple in practical design
Tesla > Apple meeting customer desires
Tesla > Apple speed of innovation

While Apple couldn't figure out how to make a charger for iPhone, Watch & Airpods, Tesla built a wholly owned factory in China and is producing Model 3 (now at a run rate of 300,000 cars per year). ONE YEAR LATER, they expanded the factory and have begun producing Model Y.

Apple products are great but they are not manufacturers.

That's a whole lot of opinions based on reddit fanboys I bet.
Tesla manufacturing is a joke, the QA issues are insane.
Practical design, lol.
Meeting customer desires, except there's ZERO customer service if anything ever goes wrong.
Speed of innovation is an opinion again, considering you just aren't interested in the types of innovations Apple is making.

Manufacturing is a low margin business that nobody really wants. There is a reason it all moved to low wage areas like China.
 
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Tim is highly intelligent and smart. I'm sure he had many reasons to avoid buying Tesla. There is a reason Steve Jobs picked him to lead and it shows. Apple is doing better than ever.
Shhhh 🤫 , don't make the Apple haters get upset by posting facts. They are hard at work trying to backup Tesla and trash Apple. Some of them are even posting that Apple needs the competition when Apple doesn't even have a car on the market yet. They hate Apple so much that they can't even make logical posts.
 
Exactly. He is a typical MBA. There is truth behind the joke that "MBA" stands for "mediocre but arrogant."
Yeah and while you're trashing Tim Cook he's laughing because the "MBA" stands for Millionaire to Billionaire Assets.
 
Shhhh 🤫 , don't make the Apple haters get upset by posting facts. They are hard at work trying to backup Tesla and trash Apple. Some of them are even posting that Apple needs the competition when Apple doesn't even have a car on the market yet. They hate Apple so much that they can't even make logical posts.
Scary how eager people like you are to defend multi-billion dollar corporations.
 
Good.
The only reason Tesla is alive today is because of Musk fans who believe in Tesla's goals and don't care about all the quality issues these cars have and EV credits.

Tesla cars itself aren't even comparable with a German car when looking at actual car quality, but it doesn't really matter because Tesla's biggest product aren't their cars but their stock.

Tesla needs Musk to survive, a purchase from Apple would be purely for IP and charging infrastructure.
 
they've been building an EV since 2015
And in 1997 Apple needed money and Microsoft settled a dispute for a meezely $150 million. Apple has become a 2 trillion dollar valuation company and that $150 ISN'T the reason why.
they want products to be built in USA
Apple's been building products in the USA.
they need battery experts
they need AI experts
they need engineers
And in 2006 Apple needed Intel to move their Macs to the next level in performance. In 2020 Apple has their own Mac processors that are the fastest on the market in CPU and GPU performance for it's current class of computers, not to mention the longest battery life of any computer in their class.
they could easily use the mapping data gathered by the several hundred thousand cars in the fleet today
Apple's mapping system has evolved quite vastly without anyone's help.
it makes all the sense in the world to acquire them.
It makes sense to you.
 
Scary how eager people like you are to defend multi-billion dollar corporations.
Nah, I'm posting facts. And what do think the Tesla defenders are here doing? What's scary is you have no other rebuttal than to attack me. That's what happens when a person's argument fails or when they have no argument. 😂
 
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