Elon Musk: If You Don't Make It at Tesla, You Go Work at Apple

hspace said:
This may be news to you, but Tesla does not hold patents. They welcome competition.

Musk be be underestimating Apple, but I think Apple is seriously underestimating the difficulty of entering the car market.
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Yes that is news to me. So Tesla, which holds no patents and welcomes competition, will compete in a field where everybody else has has patents and hates competition? Interesting.
 
For all the people that are thinking that electric cars are new and hard to built and absolutely rocket science ... Perhaps remember a little bit of history ... the first electric cars were developed in 1880's ... the fact they haven't been out there for a while has to do with how it was hard in that time to create decent batteries and have enough power to go fast at a decent price ... the electric car did hold a speed record up to early last century :)

Now in this day and age batteries are much better and even Apple (read some comments on how Apple would need to rely on Musk for his batteries) is developing their own batteries that so far beat their laptop competition (sure a car requires different specs in battery but if you can make them you can also adjust them to your needs) ... I highly doubt that this is going to be an impairment for Apple's plans.

As for Musk's statement ... in the past he was very welcoming about Apple going into the automotive industry and said he wasn't worried about them poaching employees, saying Apple poached 1 employee for every 5 employees Tesla poached from Apple ... Now he is saying this ... it is contradictory at best and to me does show Musk might feel cornered a bit (but that still is nothing more than a feeling his statement gives me, not funded on facts as there are none to be discerned on this subject).
 
sudo1996 said:
Just because he's not as bad as Jobs doesn't mean he's OK. Jobs lived under constant stress and ended up dying young with a broken family. Not a happy way to live.

I like what Tesla does, but I've always seen Musk as an arrogant **** and don't really care to see him succeed. At this point, I'd rather Mercedes or someone just copy their technology and put it in normal cars.
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Really, he died of cancer that is highly genetic in nature. He had a beautiful wife and lovely children. And doing what he loved.

BTW Musk has succeeded and succeeded and succeeded. So you won't have much fun rooting against him.
 
HiRez said:
So let me get this straight. All the guys who left Tesla for Apple are losers and castoffs, but all the guys who left Apple for Tesla are the best of the best?
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I have a friend who worked for a company that never let anyone leave on "good terms". Even if you quit, they claimed to have fired you. They would actually call a meeting for the department where you had worked, and tell all your former co-workers that you had been incompetent, and they had to let you go.
 
JediZenMaster said:
But yet its ok when phil schiller gets on stage and says "Can't innovate my ass". Cue the double standards..
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eh? do u realise that the context PS said that was completely different? a trash talk is a trash talk. if elon was saying apple is copying things and could prove it, that would be different. but making childish statements like this shows he is scared. if you cant see past that, no one can help you :)
 
JediZenMaster said:
I don't see what was wrong with his response. But i guess in 5 years when the apple car is a flop we can catch up. The general attitude on this forum are very elitist pompous apple users. I love apple products but i don't act as if they were created by jesus himself and are creations of perfection.
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of course not everyone thinks apple makes only perfect gadgets. but what makes you think that their car IS going to be a flop?
do you have any proof or data to support this?
 
Before these comments I thought Elon Musk was a class act operating at a very high level. Now I'm wondering what else he doesn't know. He's definitely not the pro I thought he was.
 
diogenis said:
Guys, I don't really understand why you like Teslas so much. The guy took some lithium batteries, 4 motors some dubious car designs one can call them as they like nice or ugly, and made his company. Yes he sells and yea he might go well, but his car tech. is nothing new or revolutionary. Why?
Simply because he has based his technology in... batteries.
His cars are fast yes, but at what cost?
His cars are very very heavy: everyone can make a heavy car. You just add all the batteries you need to produce the highest of power (like 500bhp...) and you make a behemoth in the road weighing 2.5 tonnes. Great engineering... Just imagine the kinetic energy that **** needs, is this what Ecology needs?
They are expensive
They need charging stations every 200miles, and one needs to wait 70+mins to charge.
Of course they are worried about Apple.
Apple has the engineering force AND the cash reserve they need to produce something revolutionary. The problem is in the battery itself. And it's not just Apple. So is BMW and Mercedes etc. Actually, I am very sure these companies already have plans laid down for the next decade to make real electric cars and advance car technology. I am afraid, Tesla is not there yet.
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very sensible comment. tesla, though they look really cool to the point that i would like to own one, they are impractical and i dont see them changing the world with their current technology. i dont think battery tech will go very far with a car, simpyl because the energy density is too low...unless there is an alternative power source, electric motor vehicles wont go far (literally).
 
I've got to agree with him in someways although he could have put it better. I don't see myself buying an apple watch as it offers me nothing at all and I love my JLC.... at work in a building of 400 IT pro's I know 2 with the watch, where iPhones and Macbooks are everywhere (Maybe the watch 2 will change this)

I imagine this is selective quoting. The watch doesn't have broad appeal..... so why would an Apple Car. I don't see people aspiring to own one. It's a bit like Skoda in the UK, solid cars, same platform as their more expensive VW counterparts but nobody aspires to own one.
 
Kind of reminds me of Blackberry comments at the iPhone launch: 'We'll Be Fine' or even the watch companies who said they would never sell millions of watches. I could be wrong, but it seems to me it's better not to be arrogant when talking about Apple (or any competitor) entering a market you're in.

What were Tim Cook's comments on Google Glass? "I think there's some positive points in the product. I think it's probably more likely to appeal to certain vertical markets. I think the likelihood that is has a broad range appeal, I don't- It's tough to see." Even the CEO of Apple held back criticising a competitors product.
 
AustinIllini said:
No. It wants its brand to become synonymous with automotive innovation.

Right now, Tesla has the cache in automotive that Apple has in personal devices.
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But Apple does so and is always profitable. In fact they don't move into markets they won't be profitable in.
 
Well i don't know if people that can't make it at Tesla go to work for Apple, but the display panel on Tesla really sucks balls.
 
scaramoosh said:
.....Haven't Tesla's cars all be crap so far? Every time they were on Top Gear they just got ripped into for how unpractical they're.
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Uhm, the Consumer Reports rating for the S P85D model was actually 'off the charts', and CR had to change their scoring benchmarks.

"In rating it, however, we faced a quandary: The Tesla initially scored 103 in the Consumer Reports' Ratings system, which by definition doesn’t go past 100. The car set a new benchmark, so we had to make changes to our scoring to account for it. Those changes didn’t affect the scores of other cars."

Pricey, but apparently top-notch cars, which doesn't change the fact Elon came off quite cocky in that Handelsblatt interview. Being quite an intelligent guy, and to be sure 'a rising star' to watch, a little more restraint might gain him more respect.
 
John Mcgregor said:
Well i don't know if people that can't make it at Tesla go to work for Apple, but the display panel on Tesla really sucks balls.
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Lack of class and style unfortunately. If I wanted an iPad I would have simply go out and buy one, plus I Would got the pencil too!
 
Crosscreek said:
Building cars is not rocket science.
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Actually, it is. If you're only doing what the competition is doing, you're not going to stand out. Apple will only succeed if it revolutionises a 100+ year old market, so yeah, it definitely is rocket science. Especially as an Apple Car will have to drive in the real world, not only on Apple-approved roads and intersections, it cannot ignore Google Cars, and cannot release CarOS updates that will cause your car to not turn left anymore.
 
hagar said:
Actually, it is. If you're only doing what the competition is doing, you're not going to stand out. Apple will only succeed if it revolutionises a 100+ year old market, so yeah, it definitely is rocket science. Especially as an Apple Car will have to drive in the real world, not only on Apple-approved roads and intersections, it cannot ignore Google Cars, and cannot release CarOS updates that will cause your car to not turn left anymore.
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Replace car with phone and we have the same old story. Years later we all know how it turned out to be.
 
RobertMartens said:
Really, he died of cancer that is highly genetic in nature. He had a beautiful wife and lovely children. And doing what he loved.

BTW Musk has succeeded and succeeded and succeeded. So you won't have much fun rooting against him.
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He's still hasn't succeeded with Tesla, it's 50-50 the company's dead in 5 years. He can be cocky then.,,, if he sells 1/4 the car Apple does (or is still in business).
 
LotusLord said:
I see a few people with model S' around town and they seem quite nice. If you have the money for one (I don't) I can see the benefit. Significantly better range than most other all electric cars and what I see as a fairly Apple like design element really. Stylistically, of course a personal preference, I would get a Tesla over any other electric car as well. Most other electric, or hybrid vehicles look too similar in my opinion.
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You can only go 250 miles in the best possible outcome and it takes an hour to charge 60 miles of use... which again is the best outcome.

How is that good?

Plus what happens when the batteries lose efficiency after a few years? THe batteries will probably cost 10K+...



I'd rather just stick to Diesel, at least with that engine you can easily user alternative fuel sources.
 
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