“Are two of the world’s most important tech companies secretly connected in ways that have yet to be publicly announced?” Louis Bedigian wonders for Benzinga.
“Apple Inc. and Tesla Motors Inc. have had at least one meeting, but the discussions remain a mystery,” Bedigian wonders. “‘If one or more companies had approached us last year around such things, there’s no way we could comment on that,’ Musk told Bloomberg in February. When asked point blank if Musk had talked with Apple, he replied, ‘We had conversations with Apple. I can’t comment on whether those revolved around any kind of acquisition.'”
“Investors have been so focused on the M&A fantasy that they have forgotten about the possibility that Apple and Tesla could be business partners. One Apple expert thinks that has already happened,” Bedigian wonders. “Sean Udall, CIO of Quantum Trading Strategies and author of The TechStrat Report, told Benzinga that he thinks investors are ‘misinterpreting’ a lawsuit that might have revealed Apple’s future plans. A123 Systems sued the Mac maker, claiming that it poached employees and is currently developing a ‘large-scale battery division.’ ‘I don’t know if this has ever been publicly disclosed, but in my digging — of all the digging and researching I do — it seems to me that Apple is a funder of the Gigafactory,’ said Udall.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The Apple-Tesla intrigue deepens!
No!
Charge!
No. Certainly NOY.
Everytime I mention CARPLAY to a Tesla rep he give me the same anti Apple spin with the usual nauseating anti Apple Maps blurb.
Thing is, I love Apple Maps and prefer it when driving my Tesla instead of the stock google stuff they have built into their car.
No. Certainly NOT.
Everytime I mention CARPLAY to a Tesla rep he give me the same anti Apple spin with the usual nauseating anti Apple Maps blurb.
Thing is, I love Apple Maps and prefer it when driving my Tesla instead of the stock google stuff they have built into their car.
What I’ve been thinking all along. Maybe they’re just partnering to build better batteries which both of their businesses heavily depend on.
I seem to recall Steve Jobs and Apple trusting another tech industry partner (Google and then “friend” CEO Eric Schmidt) and how that turned out. It sounded good at the time…
Fortunately, Musk is no Schmidt! I suspect that Elon is much more trustworthy than Eric the half-a-brain (apologies to M. Python).
In hindsight it’s easy to say. Just don’t want to get burned again by Apple partners with hidden agenda’s that come back to bite.
Good point. Schmidt turned out to be a snake-eyed goon (he definitely looks like one) but hopefully Musk doesn’t do something similar if they are working with Apple
Don’t think Musk could afford to, he has nothing to gain from it in the way that google did and isn’t his style to make powerful enemies that could crush him in direct competition that sadly Apple was in no position to do with Google.
Hope so. Fear is good for keeping the local planetary systems in line. I mean… 🙂
Pardon me but the correct spelling is
Erick “Schidth “
Tesla does not use expensive, custom large format batteries to power its cars. They use the very common 18650 battery, which looks like a AA battery on steroids, about twice the volume, by the thousands in each vehicle battery pack. Their whole safety approach to Li-Ion batteries centers around isolating individual cells in a way that prevents any large scale overheating event, should the cooling system fail. And the batteries are produced in commodity volumes, making them relatively inexpensive and very scalable.
If they are partnering, it will start with the de-googlization of the Tesla car. And Apple bringing a boatload of money to ramp up production and develop down-market models with greater volume potential. Wide-spread EV use is very much in the DNA of both companies.
Ya just gotta admire the narcissistic chatter of some people:
“but in my digging — of all the digging and researching I do “
Earlier this year Tim Cook said Apple has “no relationship” with Tesla. This gossip is BS.