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Tesla CEO Elon Musk Takes Shots at Apple During Earnings Call

Yokon54 said:
The valuation more than accounts for it.

The point is, electric competition hasn’t even started until maybe the last year and it’s not even serious yet. Tesla should be INSANELY profitable and have a huge lead, yet they only made about $700M selling cars the last 90 days And other companies have made compelling electric vehicles already while making more profit than Tesla.

Tesla’s $600B+ valuation implies they will be MUCH more profitable at some point, but we aren’t seeing it and competition has begun.

I like Tesla. I like Elon. But Tesla is likely way overvalued for what it can and has actually delivered. Tesla is going to be just another car manufacturer. Low margin, tough, insanely competitive business with almost no brand loyalty.
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How can they be insanely profitable when the entire EV market isn’t there yet? Battery tech needs to evolve, the charging network needs to roll out, and - most importantly - EVs need mindshare, which they are getting (mostly driven by Tesla being seen as cool). But it takes time. Meanwhile, tesla sells every car they can make and will be opening two new factories soon.

as an aside, they have pretty big profit potential in energy generation and storage, too. I have tesla solar and power wall, and it’s pretty great.
 
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Mac4Mat said:
Not true. The media portrayal of Steve is just that media. I knew him. He was absolutely passionate about what he did, but he wasn't arrogant or ratty as the media suggested. He was a really nice guy who appreciated input from like minded individuals.
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From the biography released shortly after he died Steve admitted to treating his daughter as if she didn’t exist and ignored the woman who was the mother as well. When Apple started taking off in the 80’s a lot of early employees were let go and cut out of profits that they may have been entitled to and in some instances Woz stepped in to pay them.
 
Lack of CarPlay support was definitely a major negative for me. There are Apps I use daily I’ll miss, and having to use a phone holder seems such a backwards step. That being said, my order went in last week 😎
 
Company that won't sell you spare partss and will make any attempt to self-repair your car as difficult as humanly possible complains about other company's walled garden app store.
 
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Just a poor analogy. Where you charge your car (or phone) is quite a bit different than the App Store or how you manage software on devices (or vehicles). This comes from a guy who sells half-baked Autonomous driving subscriptions/capability for $10K. Maybe he should allow apple to sell discounted software for Teslas through a store accessible on the Tesla’s screen.
 
farewelwilliams said:
Reread what cknibbs said: "They have plans to open up the supercharger network."

And then re-read the 2018 article:
"He stipulates that these manufacturers would have to pay their fair share of the costs and would have to either adopt Tesla's plug standard or include an adapter in their vehicles."

That's literally what "opening up supercharger network" is doing. You expected manufacturers to use superchargers without paying "fair share of the costs"?

Oh look, more references of "opening up":

ark-invest.com

Takeaways from Our Recent Podcast with Elon Musk

On February 13th, we sat down with Elon Musk in Fremont, California for an episode of our FYI – For Your Innovation podcast. Here are some of our key...
ark-invest.com ark-invest.com

And in 2020:
www.caradvice.com.au

Tesla Superchargers already accessible to other electric cars, Elon Musk claims

The technology was only available to Teslas previously
www.caradvice.com.au www.caradvice.com.au

Face it, this decision came long before the infrastructure plan.
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Why do the car manufacture have to be involved. It should mean opening up to the owners of the car.
 
For the most part I personally don’t mind a walled garden for software. Apple isn’t immune to hacking or viruses but it is more secure than Android and has been since the App Store and the no side load policy came into existence. Nothing is completely secure and virus laden apps have sometimes made it onto the App Store but the threat level is lower than Android based systems. The trade off is that there are cool programs that aren’t available for iPhones.

Concerning the right to repair the only argument that I think Apple should be allowed to make is that the repair shop is an entry point for malware. If their security prevents that then if I want Ted Allthumbs repair shop to physically fix my iPhone because it will only cost a buck then the only phone in danger is mine, not someone I may share photos/songs/ files with. I don’t think that Apple should be required to change the physical design JUST to make 3rd party repair easier because people do like stupidly thin and lightweight phones. It’s a selling feature. But tools, manuals and parts should be available for 3rd party repair shops, not at a loss for Apple but not at a ridiculous price either. There are way too many areas of the US where getting an iPhone/iPad/iComputer repaired means at the minimum a long drive or having it sent elsewhere by mail or UPS, with it needing to be sent back the same way.

The only reason not to allow local repair is maybe security and that’s a pretty weak maybe.

Edit: Auto correct didn’t like the word malware and changed it to make v
 
alchemistmuffin said:
Musk criticizing Apple about “closed ecosystem” 😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Looks like someone is really afraid of Apple Car finally, since it may be the real threat to Tesla for first time.

Time’s Up Musk. Time to let A REAL COMPANY show what the future of electric car looks like with true innovation. Don’t like it? Shut your mouth and start innovating with new technology then. Because competitors are catching up to your EV technology and about to give your company a can of w$&? A@&.
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Real company that has no experience in building cars...Anything better than this....???

BMW i8.jpeg
 
iapplelove said:
And I’m not even the biggest fan, but some of the things he’s done… some of the accomplishments. Amazing. The plaid model is like future tech here now
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Elon Musk doesn't "do" anything, aside from showboat. He invested in an existing company and paid engineers to build a car (with huge gov subsidies).
 
Hey Elon, is the derivative share requirement indexed according to the cost and percentage analysis?
 
||\|| said:
Elon Musk doesn't "do" anything, aside from showboat. He invested in an existing company and paid engineers to build a car (with huge gov subsidies).
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What huge government subsidies? The US isn’t giving out subsidies for R&D now and certainly not in 2007-2010 when Tesla was getting set up and only limited amounts to consumers for the purchase of an energy efficient vehicle i.e. EV’s, hybrids, propane, and probably natural gas, at least in some areas.
 
hans1972 said:
Why do the car manufacture have to be involved. It should mean opening up to the owners of the car.
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That's a ridiculous question. Why should Tesla even do this at all? Tesla owners essentially paid to build the Supercharger network. Tesla owners already have lines during July 4th holiday. Now Tesla owners have to share with non-Tesla owners and make the charging queue even worse?
 
I like Elon for his vision to help make environment better. But, Apple has the same vision and putting efforts. As far as his comments of wall-garden is not relevant comparing App store vs allowing others to use charging network.
 
Tesla walled Garden
Right to repair and spares - next to zero.
Closed platform info system - no apps ,CarPlay or Android Auto.
Supercharger network proprietory.


still want one though!
 
page3 said:
Lack of CarPlay support was definitely a major negative for me. There are Apps I use daily I’ll miss, and having to use a phone holder seems such a backwards step. That being said, my order went in last week 😎
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I don’t miss Carplay (I miss heads up display more). Once you feel the instant torque and handling you’ll fall in love with your car. Have 2 now and they are simple amazing. Can’t wait for the Cybertruck!
 
I am not a fan of billionaire weirdos blowing smoke up their own asses to seem relevant. I much prefer Ford’s Mach-E design and innovation wise.
psimac said:
Keep something else in mind: Tesla makes up ~80% of market share in a segment that is 2% of the overall automobile market in the USA (and even less worldwide). They're a little company that gets a lot of free press often because of Musk's shenanigans. Volkswagen sells more cars in a day than Tesla sells in a month. Volkswagen's market share isn't shrinking.

My thesis has been for years that while Tesla currently shares a technological advantage, their arrogance will get the best of them when the "dinosaur" carmakers overtake them. The forces are just too great and Tesla's shortcomings will continue to be exposed as people realize there are other options. I want Tesla to succeed as America's great automotive success story but I think Tesla will grow up to be a niche player unless they pull the impossible and come out with a 300-mile range, sub-$20k car, or something.
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ford has already done this with the Lightning, Maverick, and the Mach-e. I wish Tesla the best of luck, but Chevy, Ford, and a lot of other big companies are drip kicking him where it hurts, primarily because they aren’t built on water and children’s dreams and unicorn dust. So why is he going after Apple?
 
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QCassidy352 said:
So basically the same thesis for how the Nokias and Blackberries of the world were going to crush Apple’s phone plans back in the 2007-10 era?

Now, will Tesla end up with iPhone-like marketshare, no. The auto market is way too big with too many players for anyone to achieve that. But Tesla ain’t going anywhere except up.
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While I acknowledge the comparison, the forces that make up the car business are way more technologically astute, have an impressive supply chain, and have a rich supplier community that does a lot of R&D for them. Imagine if Nokia was partnered with thousands of companies supporting their R&D effort while having a vision for the future. The car business is always thinking about the future.

Tesla's products are not as big of a disruptor as Apple's iPhone. Their technological advantage will continue but their business advantage will be overtaken.
 
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