An Apple car? You must be joking
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There is a rumor floating about that Apple is working on an actual Apple Car for release in 2019.
Really? Seriously? And next they will be working on an Apple Bicycle, Apple Shoes, Apple Motorcycle, and maybe an Apple Refrigerator. These are all items that could benefit from the navigation, usability and clever intelligence embedded in Apple’s wonderful line of software.
But it doesn’t fit their brand. It’s outside of their core competency. You might say, well, they just need to design it and have various companies from around the world build it! Maybe Tata motors in India?
Hmmm.
Here are some of the things I think of when I think of the Apple Brand. Reliability, turning complexity into simple and intuitive, luxury, fun, minimalist, few precise offerings vs plethora of offerings.
What about Apple TV? Everyone was convinced that Apple was going to release a beautiful 1080P 60″ television. Or was that a 4K/48? Or a 5K/32? Or a …. you get the idea, there are many combinations of screens. No, Apple has tackled the brains of TV with the introduction of the new Apple TV box. It’s essentially an iOS device that makes everything about TV follow the attributes of the Apple brand. They are not in the screen business, they are in the brains business. Screens are low margin.
Following that line of logic, does it make sense for Apple to release an actual car? All of the signs point to it. Apple is evidently talking with local governments, battery suppliers, sensor manufacturers, etc. They are hiring engineering experts in self-driving car technology. Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, must be a duck?
Let me ask a few questions:
- If Apple were designing the brains behind vehicles, do you think they would need to understand all of the intricacies of batteries, sensors, mapping technology, etc?
- What is the size of the market for a specific Apple car vs the size of the market for other car manufactures who would rather embed Car Play into their own car?
- Do you think an Apple Car could co-exist with Car Play in other manufacturers vehicles. Hint: Would other vehicle manufacturers TRUST a co-existing relationship.
I foresee a future of iOS (and Android and ???) building the brains for all of the vehicle manufacturers on the planet (and Mars after Elon imports Tesla to that red planet).
But an Apple Car? It doesn’t fit their brand.
© 2015 – Mark Travis – All Rights Reserved
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