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Volkswagen CEO Skeptical About Apple Car, Believes in CarPlay-Only Approach
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So do I except this time Tesla proved Apple wrong. The Apple car ain't happening. I wish it would but Tim messed up big time and the window has now closed.
That's kind of what CEOs are supposed to do/say publicly. It's generally not a good idea for them to express too much concern over the competition. Saying "we're doomed" is not exactly good for the stock price, company moral, etc. What they say, think or believe behind the scenes may be a different story.
Ballmer was at least right about the price. Less than three months after the iPhone went on sale, prices were dramatically cut and were cut again even more the next year. The iPhone's future may not have turned out nearly as well without those early price reductions.
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No but this is a car not a phone no matter how much Apple or anyone wishes it to be.
iPhones are hundreds of times more powerful these days than the pathetic chips car makers put in cars to power infotainment screens. The iPhone will for sure run the system. That lag when you try to move your car’s built-in satnav map? That’s because the chips are 💩 I can’t see the car manufacturers putting better chips in as it eats into profits. M-chip iPhones will be nuts.
And Microsoft: "It doesn't have a keyboard, so it's not a very good email machine." --Steve Ballmer
normal CarPlay is just a projection from software running on your phone. The car manufacturer doesn't need to integrate anything other than a display stream with touch targets. The degree of integration they showed at WWDC would require a much closer integration. Each manufacturer would need to work with Apple to connect various aspects of their cars into CarPlay++. That might mean having an built-in device that ran iOS and ran much of the software. Your phone would then be more of a client for software that and less of a host.
VW made the right decision. Don't submit and rely on another unnecessary US corporation who will surely nickle and dime and control you to the hilt, probably even more so with Tim Cook as CEO.
Why not? Apple is a hardware design company. Most the actually making is done by contractors.
Yeah, except where is the Steve Jobs and Steve Woz, the revolutionary genius, and creative engineering genius, to create this? Tim Cook? The genius bean counter? Craig Federighi? The genius head of Abandoned Software Quality Control?
CarPlay+ is going to be about as good as it gets I'd say. And for such a worldwide success as CarPlay is, I'm astounded how limiting it is, I just want to slap the Apple execs sometimes. (And let me remind you, CarPlay is merely a watered down, subset of iOS, the OS invented under Steve's visionary genius).
Final note. Prepare yourself for subscriptions.
History is full of people that were thought to be intelligent denying the future.
Ken Olson was sure that people would only need one computer in their home, IF THAT! I tried to count the number of real computers I have in the house, and I'm sure I missed a few. At the time I had 4 servers alone. FOUR!!! Not counting desk machines and notebooks. Should iPads count? iPhones? Apple Watch's? A microwave? High end calculators? Hmm... Does an Apple TV count as a 'computer'?
I found a car that had, wait for it...
An IN-DASH RECORD PLAYER!!! Yes, you could, back in those old days, take the disc off your Victrola, and stick it in the slot in your dashboard and keep playing it! Wow... Who knew that soon cars would have CD changers! Satellite radio. Hmm... I'll bet inventing a skip-less in-dash record player was just as hard as inventing a skip-less CD player.
But I digress...
Ken Olson was sure that people would only need one computer in their home, IF THAT! I tried to count the number of real computers I have in the house, and I'm sure I missed a few. At the time I had 4 servers alone. FOUR!!! Not counting desk machines and notebooks. Should iPads count? iPhones? Apple Watch's? A microwave? High end calculators? Hmm... Does an Apple TV count as a 'computer'?
I found a car that had, wait for it...
An IN-DASH RECORD PLAYER!!! Yes, you could, back in those old days, take the disc off your Victrola, and stick it in the slot in your dashboard and keep playing it! Wow... Who knew that soon cars would have CD changers! Satellite radio. Hmm... I'll bet inventing a skip-less in-dash record player was just as hard as inventing a skip-less CD player.
But I digress...
Whoever said humans can work 'smarter not harder with computers' should be hunted down and sent to Mars*!!!
* - Provided they are still alive. Should their relatives pay for their statements?
Personally, the current level of integration of Apple into my car, is more than enough. I would not buy a car that is that dependant on Apple for something as fundamental to the car as gauges.
Cars are a lot more complex than a phone or a PC. One of the reasons car manufacturers sub contract much of he engineering of a car, is its now too specialised to do all in house. That and the margins the car industry work on is way lower then what Apple is used to. Oh and think fitting a new connector for Europe on an iPhone is a big deal? The regulatory environment of selling a car around the world is in a whole different league. It's hard to even describe how ill prepared Apple is for that.
Apple don't manufacture anything for themselves though; they outsource it to a chinese plant.
I wouldn't buy a chinese car, i don't care if it has an apple badge on it.
If apple cars rolled out of Japan or germany, i'd give it a look.
Why would Apple wish a car was a phone? They have a phone. Apple does not need to reinvent the wheel here. They need design and produce a good car. Many many decisions add up to a car and Apple will make those decision. How the dashboard looks and functions, for example, is going to be their unique take. I hope they make the right tradeoffs. I think Tesla prioritises touch too much, for example. They have hired many people who are expert in this field, so I guess only time will tell what bunch of choices they have made. Rivian went from being an EV battery only company to making a car. Well, Apple has bought a few companies and hired experts. They can make a car. The question is, can the take enough time and hire the right people to make a good/great car? We'll have answers at some point, because to me it seems like they do want to make one.
Maybe it might be software only. An actual Apple Car, if it ever happens might be years away.
I agree with the CEO here. Making a car is far more difficult than making an iPhone.
If anything Apple is probably creating mock cars to help prototype the future of CarPlay.
If anything Apple is probably creating mock cars to help prototype the future of CarPlay.
It would depend on who they partner with, and how much control that partner has. If Apple just does the software, this could be a rather quick build.
As I've been saying for years, ever since the rumors of an Apple Car first surfaced, Apple would be crazy to build and sell an automobile. If Apple did so, despite how good their electric car might be, they would suddenly be competing for sales with every other car manufacturer out there, and those companies would now have a disincentive to embrace Apple software in their vehicles.
Apple can generate far more revenue with their enhanced CarPlay approach, designing software that every other automobile manufacturer out there can integrate into their own vehicles, while Apple enhances the utility of owning an iPhone.
Apple can generate far more revenue with their enhanced CarPlay approach, designing software that every other automobile manufacturer out there can integrate into their own vehicles, while Apple enhances the utility of owning an iPhone.
Not that Apple will see it as a factor going forwards but it looks like in the short to medium term due to emissions regulations that car manufacturers are moving away from low margin mass market cars to higher margin lower volume cars.
Not to the extent of the margin that Apple might like according to this post, but so called ‘super minis’ which are popular around the world except in North America are going away.
Cars such as audi A1, VW polo, Ford Fiesta, Peugeot 208, etc will not be refreshed once their current generations run their course in roughly 2025.
In their place vehicles like Audi A3, VW golf, Ford Focus and Peugeot 308 will become entry level cars - I believe that these are already treated as such in North America.
It screws over younger buyers and buyers on a budget who want a new car so used markets may remain high for some time to come.
Part of this is down to electrification of cars which in many countries is mandated by around 2030 for new vehicles of all sizes.
Apple need to decide if they want to get themselves onto the field of play before too many people have bought themselves an electric car that they may keep for years.