“Apple’s brand extends far beyond technology and coolness,” Vitaliy N. Katsenelson writes for MarketWatch. “The company has accumulated incredible goodwill with consumers.”
“So whenever Apple comes out with the Apple Car, it will grab a disproportionately large market share from General Motors and other automakers precisely because of that deep well of goodwill,” Katsenelson writes. “By the time my youngest child, Mia Sarah, who is almost two, learns to drive, internal combustion engines will likely be a relic consigned to museums.”
“Just like Tesla, Apple is not going to be using a dealership model to sell its cars. Just as with the iPhone, the company will want complete control of the buying experience,” Katsenelson writes. “If both Tesla and Apple bypass the dealership model, the GMs of the world will be at an even larger competitive disadvantage. They will have to abandon the dealership model too. Yes, I know, selling cars directly to consumers is not legal in many states, but if the U.S. Constitution could be amended 27 times, the law on car sales (which is an artifact of the Great Depression) can be amended as well.”
Katsenelson writes, “When Apple makes its entrance into the auto industry, it will likely be successful and highly disruptive.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The disruption Apple wreaks upon the automotive industry will be something to behold, for sure.
We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in. – Ed Colligan, Palm CEO, November 16, 2006
Does Katsenelson really think his two year-old daughter is going to have to learn how to drive when she’s a teenager? That’s just a failure of imagination.
Apple has to outsource the manufacture of computers and gadgets. You expect them to actually produce automobiles?
Apple will develop software for navigation and entertainment, and leave production to real manufacturers.
Apple may well outsource the manufacture of it’s cars, but bot to conventional car factories. The cars themselves are unlikely to be much like existing cars, so normal car manufacturing companies will not be suitable for Apple, they would need to outsource elsewhere, possibly to a specially designed factory.
Umm… Apple most certainly can manufacture their own products if they thought it was worth it. Right now they make the Mac Pros in Texas and iMacs in Ireland.
And Apple is in doing either of those things very well these days. To think Apple can make a car is ridiculous
an AppleCar under Pipeline Timmy?
not no way.
not no how.
“not no way.
not no how.”
So you DO think Apple will produce a car under TC’s leadership?
Grammatical and logical failure as usual.
It was an allusion to a Wizard Of Oz line, you obtuse jackass.
Except the actual quote is…
“Orders are, nobody can see the great Oz! Not nobody, not nohow!”
You can’t even get that right.
fück you, you were busted and you can’t man-up to it.
“ungotcha” creep.
allusion |əˈlo͞oZHən|
noun
an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference: an allusion to Shakespeare | a classical allusion.
Grow up botvinnik. Your useless defamatory comments are becoming utterly boring.
Just keep Cue off the project or it will never get done.
If history is any indicator, why would I get a car that would only drive on pre-approved roads and fuel only from pre-approved stations?
If Apple is trying to protect the driver and the vehicle then it could be a good thing to do as Apple directs you to do. You just have to decide whether it’s for Apple’s benefit or yours. I’m sure there are people who would accept such a condition, at least to some degree. Obviously, if I live in an area where there are no approved roads or charging stations, then I’m out of luck as they’ll void my warranty.
“If Apple is trying to protect the driver and the vehicle then it could be a good thing to do as Apple directs you to do. ”
Or in this hypothetical situation, Apple could kiss my ass…?
My wife almost had us sign up for the plug that allows the insurance companies to monitor our driving. I said the same thing to the insurance company.
Do they have non-standard electricity where you live?
Wow.
Ever hear of non-standard plugs?
But maybe the reality distortion field is alive and they will claim magical Apple shaped electrons. /s
Apple will only have 5% of the market share of allowable streets in the U.S.
So, as long as you don’t need to drive on the 95% of Google-owned streets, you’ll be good to go.
You mean like the Mac ran Windows off the road? Or like iOS ran Android off the road? Or like Apple amusic could beat Spotify? Or Ping would conquer Social Media? Or like HomeKit dominates Automation? Or Apple Maps running Google Maps off the road?
This is pure fanboy stuff.
The first mover advantage in electric cars was some time ago. Tesla is shipping the 3, Volvo will by all Hybrid and Electric next year, GM, Ford, Toyota, BMW, Nissan, VW, Audi and Hyundai all have electrics rolling America’s streets. Tesla has built out it’s SuperCharger network of fast charging stations not just in the US but overseas and will be building a new plant in China and maybe a second in the US soon.
Just to awaken the Fanboi crowd.
You can go to Tesla today and buy a car and a Rooftop Solar setup to charge it. You have access to a network of Superchargers on the road with best in class range and great safety. They already can do and have done Over the Air SW updates. They have solid resale value.
Not someday, not in the Pipeline, not if we decide to. Today, as in right now.
Unless Apple wants to buy Tesla they are deep in the rear view mirror of an industry.
But it will have “NASA inspired anti-gravity bucket seats”! Oh, wait, that’s Nissan, that’s why it’s not good BS, the BS Apple will serve us will be much higher quality, but they will need to channel the Master.
Tesla is not moving or disrupting the car market. Read Asymco.com (more specifically, see the Asymcar series/podcasts). Eg:
http://www.asymco.com/2015/05/28/is-tesla-disruptive/
http://www.asymco.com/2016/05/06/asymcar-32-tesla-the-numbers/
I don’t remember the exact numbers, but it’s like Tesla needs to produce an order of magnitude more in order to change the industry in the way it espouses to want to. And it must really change the equation of how the metrics of competition to something asymmetric (like completely new manufacturing process, as well as means of selling). Otherwise the incumbents have a chance to make many of the same improvements over time (as they are).
For example, Tesla sold around 50K units in 2016, maybe 80K last year. If the whole car market is around 80M per year, then 80K is one tenth of one percent. It needs someone to target the 1 percent, like Jobs did with the first iPhone.
Apple could radically rethink what’s been done and, when its ready, come out of the gate at a rate of 800K per year. I think this is why Apple is taking its time. They don’t have to be first mover, they need to be disruptive when they are ready — and that would be around whole manufacturing process and buying experience.
As Horace on Asymco (“Asymmetric Competition”) points out, by that time, with self-driving cars, etc. it won’t be a “car” anymore — why even sit in same configuration. Why not have modular interiors so you can choose office, or living room, or whatever; and then feel free to live as far from your place of work as you like.
Apple isn’t building a “car”, just like it’s “phone” wasn’t a phone.
Mac is still superior to Windows, just not ubiquitous. Android didn’t (and wouldn’t) exist without iOS paving the way. Apple Maps got a slow start (and well after Google Maps), but is what the majority use on their iPhones now.
Still… You make many fine points, Dav, but none of that “first electric car” hoha has upended the industry. The direct sales example is a good one – nobody has managed to get those laws changed – yet! Apple surely might. Perhaps not alone, but they could certainly be the elephant in the room who gets it done. And they won’t need to buy Tesla to make that happen.
Get the law changed in California first and rest will follow.
Not unless it makes practical sense and it doesnt in so many ways, such as there is a limit to the supply of electricity,performance in cold weather, carrying 25 ton loads for 400 or more miles (like for our food), etc.
Just because California does it? Really? You need to get out more. Nothing personal.
It seems likely the cost of an AppleCar would be even higher than the cost of a Tesla. I honestly can’t imagine Apple building or be selling their own cars under any CEO. I hope Apple goes into designing and building health care hardware. We need products devoted to health care more than we need automobiles and it would involve a much larger market.
I’m not against Apple trying different things but Wall Street is already favoring Tesla to dominate the entire auto industry and Elon Musk is considered as some sort of beloved god CEO so I don’t see how Apple can compete with that. No one is going to rally around Tim Cook like they do with Elon Musk. Steve Jobs could have pulled it off but not Tim Cook. He’s such a boring CEO and he doesn’t put excitement into anything. It’s just something about his persona that’s lacking. Maybe he’s too practical or he doesn’t seem to take big risks. IMHO.
Apple should have left Amazon in the dust but instead, Apple is already being seen as playing second fiddle to Amazon in reaching a trillion dollar market cap and it’s rather discouraging how Apple, with so much money, can’t do anything to excite the greedy big investors like Amazon can.
People like to drive and I don’t see anything that’s going to change that. Thomas vehicles are not going to be safe they will be worse than drivers actually controlling their own vehicles. As long as people are in control of writing the code they will not be safe
1) Just like Tesla, Apple is not going to be using a dealership model to sell its cars
That was NOT Tesla’s choice. The carbon fuel automobile oligarchy conspired to FORCE Tesla to stay out of the auto dealership business.
2) The UK government just announced that they’re going to go ALL electric cars by 2040. That’s in 23 years. A snail’s pace.
Apple will have KILLED in the electric car market by then, shaming the UK government into catching up in a hurry.
23 years. What a bad joke on UK citizens.
Talking of bad jokes on it’s citizens and catching up … exactly what date has the US government announced for banning sales of internal combustion engine powered cars?
I’ve read about some states ( Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and Vermont ) proposing to ban them in 35 years, but haven’t seen any indication of a national ban and it seems very unlikely that there will be one because of powerful vested interests.
The US government has, at this time, NO date for banning internal combustion cars. There are still, I believe, fuel efficiency goals still in place. The gathering sense in the USA is that renewable energy is going to happen whether the carbon fuel industry and their minions like it or not, and it’s happening a lot faster than waiting around for 23 years.
I just found an article pointing out that the UK government is investing in hydrogen fuel cell automobiles, not just electric. That’s going to be interesting to watch. Hydrogen is dirt easy to make at home, as I often point out. The problem is how to store it for later use. That’s not something one can do very well at home, and it’s a bit dangerous.
Apple car for sale September 1st, 2020. Pick yours up on September 1st, 2027.