Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Hundreds of Apple Employees Working On Apple-Branded Electric Vehicle

Two rented minivans with experimental sensors on top, plus a couple job openings, plus some rumours... And we get this? Hysteria galore.
 
One man's opinion

You have to ask yourself....what are Apple's core competencies? Consumer electronics, desktop and portable computing, software in various flavors(OS and apps), TV interface device, and now a quasi luxury wearable device. And now the rumor is a totally new industry for them: the automobile industry? I don't buy it. This is an already crowded space with electric cars by tesla, bmw, Mercedes and Toyota. To start a new product and production lines takes years. Yes, Apple is flush with cash but still it doesn't seem to make sense. Now if the rumor was that Apple Would develop the software/UI for car companies, I could believe that. Or that they had plans to buy a car company, even that could be believable but to start from scratch? No way.
 
I still remember right after SJ announced the iPhone, there was a guy who wrote an open letter begging him to take it back and cancel the whole idea as the phone business was not what Apple was known for. I myself will never bet against Apple.
 
wilhoitm said:
The Tesla literally does blow away the Lamborgini & Ferrari. The Tesla Model S P85D with 691hp has a 0 to 60 of 3 seconds called INSANE MODE!

Tesla Model S P85D vs Lamborghini LP570-4 Super Trofeo Stradale - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4CnSS4OG4A

Tesla Model S P85D vs Ferrari 458 Italia - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cA1doO_9h8
Click to expand...

This is before Tesla updates the software to increase the speed limit from 130 to 155 MPH. Musk not only builds space rockets but also ground rockets. You'll probably need to spend at least 3x on Lambo/Ferrari to get equivalent performance. LoL
 
braintumor said:
Sorry mate, again, I share your enthusiasm, but it will not happen. You talk about Apple building one day in the future millions of cars with possibly just 1 to 3 models.
Take a deep look at the market and it statistics, for example General Motors (including all its sub-brands) sold around 10 million cars last year and they have around 212,000 employees working in 396 facilities on six continents. Also GM already exists for more then a 100 years! The other leading companies like Volkswagen or Toyota have similar numbers.

Lets be more realistic, Apple will be competing with companies like Tesla or BMW, here their numbers...
Car sales 2014:
- BMW: 1.8 million vehicles
- Tesla: 35 thousand vehicles

Employees:
- BMW: 106,000
- Tesla: 10,000

Founded:
- BMW: 1916
- Tesla: 2003

You get the picture now? Even though Tesla is already building cars for nearly 10 years and the last couple of years the cars are not too chabby either, with 35,000 sold in 2014 they are an ant against giants like BMW, GM, Toyota etc

How do you think Apple will get to millions of car sales? Do you think the competition with all its infrastructure will just sit still and watch how Apple takes over the market?

By the way, how should Apple be successfull in the car business if they need to allocate huge resources and manpower in a mass-market car project without their existing core products taking a huge hit (their core products have nothing to do with cars).

Steve Jobs said:
“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I'm actually as proud of the things we haven't done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.”
Click to expand...

Great post and although worldwide things are different, Apple better be building a pickup truck if they plan on competing with the big boys in the U.S.

I can picture it now... The new electric Apple A-150...
 
Natzoo said:
hahaha. A lenovo with gt 860m with 4gb of ram, 5th gen processor, 16 gb of ram, 512 of SSD all for 1299. and wow compare that to apples "high end" gt 750m with 2gb (2yr old graphics), 4th processor, and 512 for a whopping 2600
Click to expand...

I think you need to have your sarcasm meter repaired.
 
DakotaGuy said:
The automobile manufacturing business is one of the toughest around. Competition is tough, Government regulation is deep, margins are small, and other then Tesla most of the major automakers are 80-100+ year established businesses with long established dealer networks.

All I can say is good luck.
Click to expand...


...so exactly like the cell phone industry prior to the iPhone.
 
DakotaGuy said:
The automobile manufacturing business is one of the toughest around. Competition is tough, Government regulation is deep, margins are small, and other then Tesla most of the major automakers are 80-100+ year established businesses with long established dealer networks.

All I can say is good luck.
Click to expand...

Yes, the UAW is much tougher than the Apple store geniuses.
 
"Apple is headed towards bankruptcy if the Apple Car is not released by (insert date)"

- All future media Apple-centric stories.
 
Zerozal said:
...so exactly like the cell phone industry prior to the iPhone.
Click to expand...

If Apple's goal is to be a full-line worldwide automaker like GM, Toyota, Ford, Volkswagon, Fiat-Chrysler, etc... then yes... It's a much, much different business. The automobile industry vs. the cell phone and consumer electronics is apples and oranges.

You think Apple can sell automobiles produced in low wage Chinese factories by the hundreds of thousands then fly them over and sell them with iPhone like margins? I can't wait to see that happen... What do they say... When pigs fly?
 
They have enough cash to research driving chimps, if they wanted to. They will not come out with a car.
 
DakotaGuy said:
If Apple's goal is to be a full-line worldwide automaker like GM, Toyota, Ford, Volkswagon, Fiat-Chrysler, etc... then yes... It's a much, much different business. The automobile industry vs. the cell phone and consumer electronics is apples and oranges.

You think Apple can sell automobiles produced in low wage Chinese factories by the hundreds of thousands then fly them over and sell them with iPhone like margins? I can't wait to see that happen... What do they say... When pigs fly?
Click to expand...

Bingo, we got a winner!

Apple with its high profit margins will make an apple car hugely expensive! It will compete in the price range of BMW and higher and that market is already fairly small, compared to the rest!

An Apple car will be a niche product because of its price, just like the Mac Pro or the Gold Apple Watch (that is rumored to costs around $2000).
Do you honestly think that Apple will build a massive supply chain operation just for a couple of thousand car sales a year?
Thats economic suicide!

And a lot of question remains like, where does apple want to sell the cars and service them? In the apple stores?
 
After Apple spent $3B on Beats headphones I'll believe just about anything, including the Apple iCar.
 
My mother saw a brown one come past the house. It was a similar/same model as the one in the picture. It's strange that they're using an older generation vehicle like that.
 
wilhoitm said:
The Tesla literally does blow away the Lamborgini & Ferrari.
Click to expand...
Initially, in a drag race, maybe. But try a curvy race track ... the car is way too heavy (over 4600 pounds). Also, after a few minutes of hard driving the power limiter kicks in to protect the battery from overheating. It's a great car, but it's no sport car.
 
Just picture it: Everyone in the world will be driving an Apple car, wearing an Apple Watch, using an iPhone, iPad, iMac, Macbook Pro, watching Apple TV at home, controlling their entire home with any of the above devices. Then maybe Apple can start a cellular company, a supermarket chain, clothing stores, hospitals, buy power companies, put cable companies out of business, maybe buy out Exxon and a few other oil companies so we can by our gas from Apple.

Be a rebel, dare to be different. Go with Apple. 1984 gets closer every day.
 
Its got to be true...

Why would hundreds of employees work on something, then say its not a good idea ?

Wouldn't you think about that before going into stuff ? otherwise its a waste of effort, time, and money.

Although, since Google has it's self driving car, everyone must follow suit right ? That's usually how all of this works anyway.

Then again, it could just be "well, if we start working on this "project", then we'll loose focus, and iOS and OS X will have more bugs we just can't be bothered fixing"

Is Apple just getting more and more stuff, going over its head, here ?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back