I actually just saw the apple mini van drive down the street in front of me, while I was sitting at a cafe in Hawi, on the Northern tip of the Big Island of Hawaii. I didn't have my phone ready in time to grab a photo of it, but apparently from a follow-up conversation with a local, it's been around a bunch. I didn't see whether there was a person driving it or not, didn't have an angle to see. This is the last place I'd have expected to see it. Random.
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Former GM CEO on Apple Car: 'They Have No Idea What They're Getting Into'
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Exactly!! Shareholders don't care about cars, and really only care about money!!! Why spends billions in a gamble to make 15-30% return when they can do nothing crazy and make 40% return.
I'm sure Apple could make a great car but it would not be money spent wisely.
The money is in Apple Car play, Apple watch, iOS, etc. I can see Apple doing really well in car upgrades that way higher margins. Imagine if they can make the guts CarPlay modular where you can upgrade the hardware every other year.
People seem to think that his statements are fear and jealousy. These people seem to skip over the 'former' part of his relationship with GM.
I really doubt he cares whether they bought a Dodge or a Chevy or even a Kia. It's irrelevant.
Also, he's not afraid of losing his former job if Apple plays in the market.
He's simply discussing viability with no implied ulterior motives.
No that's exactly my point. Apple's existing stable of engineers have none of the skills needed. They would have to bring in all of that expertise. They would have to build from scratch a team of automotive engineers and get them used to Apple's way of working before they could even start such a project.
Unless they make the car driverless I don't see reason for revolutionizing the Car industry. IMO there are already to many distractions in cars today. My car is for transportation from a to b, if I want to go green I can get a Tesla or another Hydrid. iPods and iPhones changed the industry which I can't see an Apple Car doing without it going driverless.
Apple will not be required to make a car. They are required to purchase people who know hot to design and assemble cars. Business as usual. The production bosses in China are, as usual, awaiting instructions.
Yeah- he's right....Apple doesn't have the experience. GM on the other hand has been recalling sub-par vehicles for 100 years now....
Again focussing on the negative and not seeing that it was actually a simple response to a question that was asked of someone who used to be CEO of GM.
His answers relate to viability of entering the market. He makes no hostile statements. He has no motives. He just answered the questions.
And if we follow your logic, Apple isn't worth discussing anyways, cause once upon a time they were circling the drain and in deeper trouble than GM has ever seen.
GM made a strategic choice to restructure. And, they repaid their loan from the government. And they've come out better after restructuring.
Apple was at the brink of total irrelevance and actually a dying company once. If we apply your logic, we shouldn't even think of Apple in the least because they once were dying.
Not sure how the GTAT debacle (disregarding the rest of my post that actually agreed with you on some other points) is more salient to
Apple's potential performance than the fact they also managed a highly complex supply chain that produced 100M high quality devices in one quarter only 7 years after producing zero.
Anyway, as I said, protecting the brand from being impacted by potential quality issues in the cars (something that plagues almost all makers to a degree, especially in new vehicles) would almost surely be the main reason Apple would be weary of going into cars.
No, they're not. Car manufacturing is an entirely different beast than fabbing computer parts. There are no car assembly lines waiting for a 3rd party to use them. Apple will have to build them.
I don't think the general public gets it. Apple does not want to design, engineer, or manufacture automobiles period.
But I think it's writing on the wall that the next living room is in your car. And that automakers will change how they sell cars to consumers based on these needs.
Google self driving cars require hardware (GPS, LIDAR, cameras, etc) and software in order to accomplish this task. One thing nobody talks about is the fact that in order for Google's cars to drive around Mountain View they need extremely complex/detailed maps - basically a model racetrack. This is where the magic is at. OEMs can handle the hardware and software side of actually operating the vehicle. But they will need to license these maps/models.
Apple is playing catch up and this project IMO is an effort to beat/compete with Google in this space. If Apple isn't successful with this, Google has the leverage with the OEMs and can basically lock Apple out of the next living room. That's why I think this project is incredibly important and has the potential to be a bigger hands-free fiasco all over again.
But I think it's writing on the wall that the next living room is in your car. And that automakers will change how they sell cars to consumers based on these needs.
Google self driving cars require hardware (GPS, LIDAR, cameras, etc) and software in order to accomplish this task. One thing nobody talks about is the fact that in order for Google's cars to drive around Mountain View they need extremely complex/detailed maps - basically a model racetrack. This is where the magic is at. OEMs can handle the hardware and software side of actually operating the vehicle. But they will need to license these maps/models.
Apple is playing catch up and this project IMO is an effort to beat/compete with Google in this space. If Apple isn't successful with this, Google has the leverage with the OEMs and can basically lock Apple out of the next living room. That's why I think this project is incredibly important and has the potential to be a bigger hands-free fiasco all over again.
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the crux of his point was the price though. a $200 price drop in the first few months is huge and probably unheard of.
ballmer though was totally caught off guard regarding where peoples interest was heading.
apple obviously is very capable but the simple math that because they had success in the past therefore they must have equal or more success in the future i think leads to complacency and failure.
Former CEO and Chairman, having retired last year.
Joined GM in 2009 as a Treasury-appointed director.
You're right that he said stuff, though.
Yeah, cause Apple has never recalled anything....
And usually by the time Apple gets around to finally initiating a recall there's already been class action suits, and most of the product has already been discarded and in a landfill.
Yes, the auto industry recalls can be more significant in consequence. But typically only a few have to have suffered consequence before the masses get repaired.
Apple by comparison will allow a problem to affect 90% of users, deny, deny, deny... Then after the product is discontinued, most are in landfills, and only a handful remain, Apple will finally recall the few that remain after losing a class action suit, and pretend that they're being proactive.
And, yes, I was there with the massive G5 issues.
Apple's strategy of avoiding recalls would be far more catastrophic if applied to the Auto industry.
The fact that GM or Toyota or anyone else recalled and repaired so many vehicles shows that the vast majority of vehicles survived and we're still available for repair.
If Apple had been there, every car would have been destroyed and it's owner dead before Apple ever repaired one car.
This is especially true when you consider that they're jumping into something that's way beyond their traditional area of expertise.
I think the important question to ask here is "what can Apple do to the car that no one else has done, or is currently working on". Are they self driving? Google and Tesla are both working on that. Are they purely electric vehicles? Just about every car manufacturer in the market is sinking cash into research there. Style? This isn't the computer arena. Plenty of car companies bank on style and elegance. Apple'd be facing equal competition here.
So what can Apple do that no one else has done? What could they do to make the future Apple Car a success in line with the iPhone?
Here is a man who's entire career has been with established companies while following a serial progression in his career. Who knows what back office shenanigans happened for this one person to become GM CEO of the thousands that could replace him. Did he get there by merit?
Same was said by IBM when the PC revolution started in the mid-70's. It is comical now, but IBM, DEC, Data-General and others made statements like this "They don't know what they are doing?"
You know what, that is a good thing. Worst is accepting establishment and bowing down to someone that inherited a market with no idea how to excel in it.
Glad you are retired. The automotive industry does not need your fixed opinions and fixed ways. GM really hasn't been a technology leader since they gave up their advanced motor research division in the 70's to the pressure of board members with oil company stock holdings.
Same was said by IBM when the PC revolution started in the mid-70's. It is comical now, but IBM, DEC, Data-General and others made statements like this "They don't know what they are doing?"
You know what, that is a good thing. Worst is accepting establishment and bowing down to someone that inherited a market with no idea how to excel in it.
Glad you are retired. The automotive industry does not need your fixed opinions and fixed ways. GM really hasn't been a technology leader since they gave up their advanced motor research division in the 70's to the pressure of board members with oil company stock holdings.
And talking of self driving cars.... this is a very interesting video Engadget posted this week, it's about BAE's systems self driving test bed car based on a Bowler Wildcat! Which if you don't know is basically a Paris Daker race car that's road legal, has a silly powerful V8 in it!
Anyway I found it interesting, they have made it to test the publics perception to driverless cars and test insurance implications etc:
Anyway I found it interesting, they have made it to test the publics perception to driverless cars and test insurance implications etc:
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If Apple wants to make a car they will . And, they will gain the expertise to do so.
Just don't buy the beta series (As in 1st generation)
The iCar S will be good!
Just don't buy the beta series (As in 1st generation)
The iCar S will be good!
I wonder if this company worth over half a trillion dollars is capable of pulling this off. Hmmm. You take raw steel and turn it into cars? Oh wow, amazing stuff. Good thing you let Apple in on that little secret, I bet that hadn't thought of that. 
car, just sayin'