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Former GM CEO on Apple Car: 'They Have No Idea What They're Getting Into'
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No, I know that you can't just throw money at something and be successful. What I was saying is that if you get the right people and work on it long enough it will be a success. & don't worry, sapphire screens are coming.
Pretty sure that any and all companies out there can duplicate what Qualcomm is doing - but only Qualcomm has the patents, and why would you waste your time developing your own when it's easily licensable and already works with existing infrastructure?
I dont know.
Could you see, if Apple makes their own car, them using anybody elses software at all? I just can't see Apple going to Blackberry and licensing out QNX, or going to Microsoft to license out their embedded platform.
Let's cut him a slack and give him some credits. Apple has never worked on automobile industries, that's for sure. Assuming all these rumors about Apple making cars are true, this might turn back on Apple and bring the company down to pre-2000 dark age.
For $5000? This is Apple. The same company that is releasing a ~4K smart watch. You think a car is going to costs just a little bit more?
And I'm saying that success in one market doesnt equate to success in another. It is WAY too premature to conjecture. Some here are already taking out their wallets. I find that funny.
That can be easily explained. The experts you mentioned: Automotive Designers and Vehichle Dynamic Engineers. Yeah, those guys. They could simply be there to advance Carplay beyond infotainment into a more integrated component of a car; from vehicle diagnostics to ECU functionality or suspension control. Designers and Engineers aren't only concerned with the bones of the car but the brains as well. MB's former R&D Pres Johann Jungwirth? He has experience in a number of areas, including regulatory affairs. In my scenario, if Carplay would become more integrated into a car's functionality, his experience would come in quite handy.
Everything I've said is purely speculative, but it is just as likely (more in my opinion) to be true based on the hires from MB.
Electrical engineers are easily replaceable with money. Jobs was the biggest decision maker, and they wouldn't have gotten anywhere without him, even with all the other talented execs.
Funny, if anything, I really do think that Apple would be the one company to make a dent in that industry. When it comes to the manufacturing process and gathering resources, they really do have a knack for it. If there's something in which Tim Cook excels, it's precisely this. As he has mentioned before, they're all about quality, first and foremost. And that's exactly where modern vehicles struggle. Why is it that most cars look stunning yet once you interact with one, it feels like not much has changed for centuries. Even worse is the 'digital' dashboard implementations on these new cars.
They have the experience, resources, and the quality control capacity to do it. Based on what GM has produced for the last couple of decades, one would assume that they're the ones who don't know how to make a good vehicle.
Anybody here who seriously believes Apple is going to be making a car doesn't understand Apple at all. Not going to happen. Ever.
However, Apple developing embedded software and autopilot features that can be sold to auto manufacturers is a much more likely possibility.
However, Apple developing embedded software and autopilot features that can be sold to auto manufacturers is a much more likely possibility.
Tim Cook's reply: "We take [aluminum], raw [aluminum], and turn it into [a phone or a computer...]."
Why would anyone give credit to this bozo's comment. If anything, I hope now more than ever that Apple is indeed working on a car to prove that fool wrong. And please, spare us the gas leak decade. The first thing Steve Jobs did was to hire the right people to prevent that from happening again.
Agreed and they should be. GM CEO just paid off a government bailout while Apple has about 20 years of GM profits in the bank. Apple can make more mistakes than any company in the US and play in area's that force innovation from others, even if they never release a car. Competition and fear is always good for the consumer in the long run.
"Steel, raw steel" except for cars like the Corvette which has zero steel in it? or very little if any. Alum injection molded frame and composite body panels. Apple most likely would never both with old tech such as steel with they already manufacture Aluminum computers.
Yeah, a business with low margins as far as GM is concerned.
However, Apple historically doesn't enter an industry unless they're certain that they can achieve astronomical margins which will leave their competition scratching their heads.
They did that with computers, MP3 players, phones, and tablets. Rest assured that they won't get into the business of manufacturing cars unless they're sure that they can do the same thing in the automotive space, as well.
I'm still not convinced that Apple actually wants to manufacture a car anyway. We'll see...
However, Apple historically doesn't enter an industry unless they're certain that they can achieve astronomical margins which will leave their competition scratching their heads.
They did that with computers, MP3 players, phones, and tablets. Rest assured that they won't get into the business of manufacturing cars unless they're sure that they can do the same thing in the automotive space, as well.
I'm still not convinced that Apple actually wants to manufacture a car anyway. We'll see...
Looks like there is growing interest in the market to make cars smarter. That is probably where Apple wants to test waters. With the cash mountain that they are on, they have all the right to test whatever. It will be interesting to see if they want to manufacture the automobile or add value through aftermarket solutions.
Not exactly true. Apple has to answer to their board AND stockholders.
Who knows whether or not they will enter the automotive industry with a car. Or if they will be successful. But if they did - they would have to dig deep enough into their pockets - that if they did fail, confidence could result in stockholders cashing out.
You simply don't know - or at least can't assume that any company is too big to fail.
Yes, the whole industry absolutely dwarfs ONE COMPANY, no question
These are Apples 3 past quarters + Guidance for Q2 2015 from
Apple's press releases
$38 B Q3 2014
$42 B Q4 2014
$75 B Q1 2015
$52-55 B Q2 2015 Guidance
207-210 B in revenues, I'm not even talking profits here....
So, by quarter 2, Apple will have more revenues than all but the biggest automaker... Is that how we judge Apple's success, beating Toyota and Volkswagen? There are other "smaller" auto makers like BMV (76B revenues) out there making good money too ;-).
According to IDC, in 2014, there were 1.3 B phones shipped for $383B
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS25282214
The industry revenues increase about 20% a year.
Apple got 93% of all profits in Q4 2015. Looking at that, the cell phone industry, and most of the tech industry, is a way worse place for most companies to operate in than the car industry, especially the retail segment.
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The car industry, despite its variations, is comparatively staid.
As for INFO on Vehicle (not cars)
For some makers like Daimler, commercial vehicle sales are substantial.
These are the top 30 Auto makers by cars shipped with their current approximate revenues in US $ from their wiki page (not all are from 2014, but it gives a general idea of the size of the industry).
With the Euro and Yen being way down, some numbers are off from when this top 10 list was made on wiki :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_automotive_companies_by_revenue
224B Volkswagen
185B Toyota
155B GM
147B Ford (US)
129B Daimler (German)
100B Honda (Japan)
98B Fiat-Chrysler (Euro-US)
96B Nissan (Japan)
86B Hyundai (Korea)
76B BMW (German
64B PSA (French, Peugeot)
64B Dongfeng (Chinese)
47 B Renault (French)
47B FAW (Chinese)
38 B Tata (India)
33B SAIC (Chinese)
23B Mazda (Japan)
21.6 B Suzuki (Japan)
17.7B Mitsubichi 9 (Japan)
17 B MAhindra (India)
13 B Isuzu
12 B Fuji (Japan)
3 B AvtoVAZ (Russian)
2.5 B BYD (Daimler - Chinese maker)
About 1770B
Got no revenues for AC, Geely, BAAC, Changan, Great Wall, Brillance (all are Chinese Makers who ship about 400K-900K vehicles a year). Though they undoubtably have some
. Maybe 10-15B each, 100B in allSo, that would make the world wide Industry, be about 1870B in size.
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One thing to note, contrary to the Smart phone Industry, most of the 30 makers listed are making a very good profit.
Car, meh. Where is the iPlane?
Sure, cars are a challenge. But why stop there? Apple should develop the affordable, self-piloted, iPlane. No controls; it just takes off, flies you to your destination and lands, all programmed by your Apple Watch, yet it meets all regulatory and safety requirements governing aircraft. The interior would be BMW or Lexus quality. No need for a pilot's license or even a driver's license.
It would have a carbon fiber airframe and, for extra degree of difficulty points, would be solar powered. Unfortunately, it would be designed by Apple, so its range would be only 30 miles.
Sure, cars are a challenge. But why stop there? Apple should develop the affordable, self-piloted, iPlane. No controls; it just takes off, flies you to your destination and lands, all programmed by your Apple Watch, yet it meets all regulatory and safety requirements governing aircraft. The interior would be BMW or Lexus quality. No need for a pilot's license or even a driver's license.
It would have a carbon fiber airframe and, for extra degree of difficulty points, would be solar powered. Unfortunately, it would be designed by Apple, so its range would be only 30 miles.