“Don’t expect Apple Inc.’s $1 billion investment in Chinese ride-hailing startup Didi to be its last,” Julie Verhage reports for Bloomberg.
“Morgan Stanley analysts led by Katy Huberty and Adam Jonas recently took a look at Apple’s spending on incremental R&D and found something shocking,” Verhage reports. “Not only is the creator of the iPhone forking out more now than it did when it launched its most successful product, it’s also burning more cash than the top 14 automakers combined, and that’s an industry deep in transformation.”
“While Apple has spent $5 billion on additional research and development from 2013 to 2015, the major players looking to electrify the fossil fuel world spent only $192 million. (Tesla Motors Inc., though not one of the 14, has spent about $444 million over that same time frame),” Verhage reports. “Given the massive size of the shared mobility market, which is $2.6 trillion by [Morgan Stanley] estimates, the revenue potential for Apple is huge.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple is doing much more than simply “making an electric car,” they are rethinking, from the ground up, how we’ll get from point A to point B.
(Hello, teleportation!)
SEE ALSO:
Apple explores charging stations for electric vehicles, sources say – May 25, 2016
Apple seeking 800,000 sq. ft. of Bay area space for Apple Car project as team reaches 600 people – May 6, 2016
Apple’s lease of old Sunnyvale Pepsi bottling plant hints at Project Titan expansion – March 1, 2016
Apple silent on mysterious noises coming from clandestine complex – February 27, 2016
Loud, late-night ‘motor noises’ emanate from Apple’s secret vehicle testing center – February 11, 2016
Apple Car: Forget ‘electric,’ think hydrogen fuel cells – February 20, 2015
Inside Apple’s top-secret ‘Titan’ electric car project – March 13, 2015
Apple working with Intelligent Energy on fuel cell technology for mobile devices, sources say – July 14, 2014
North Carolina regulators approve Apple’s 4.8-megawatt fuel cell facility at Maiden data center – May 23, 2012
New aerial images of Apple’s planned NC fuel cell, solar farms published – April 7, 2012
Apple’s massive fuel cell energy project to be largest in the U.S. – April 4, 2012
Apple patent application reveals next-gen fuel cell powered Macs and iOS devices – December 22, 2011
Apple patent app details highly-advanced hydrogen fuel cells to power portable devices – October 20, 2011
Sorry.
Lost me at “Katy Huberty…”
Katy is drinking the Gene Munster Kool-Aid 😉
And in how many years will we see the fruition of this R&D? I’m not complaining. I simply think this is a premature Gee Whiz! moment. We’re going to see several other Apple creations before their car is ready for prime time, if there really IS a car.
Let’s do like Apple marketing & look at the BIG picture!
How much does an average person spend each year on their transportation versus how much they spend on computing of all types?
How many computers and sensors are in the average auto today, 6 and around 300 sensors?
Autos have evolved over the last 5 years into rolling computer devices with internet connectivity.
You can’t keep expecting iPhone to keep advancing significantly forever and the competition is biting Apple every day, though not very successfully at the moment, but the day will come when Huwaei or someone will match Apple.
So where is the puck going that Apple’s Board of Directors has decided to logically attack as a market?
Home automation already has lots of competitors and a person can live without home automation, so that won’t be a mega push.
Apple has to use its capital to grow, not just pay dividends.
AppleAuto is a perfect fit. Skilled parts suppliers, designers, contract assemblers from 3rd parties are readily available to contract with, buy or hire. Apple has the programming and computing knowledge down pat.
There really is a car. I think we can move that particular statement from rumor to fact at this point.
As for the big reveal…that’s still rumor. And the rumor mill says Apple’s internal target for the reveal date is 2020.
So your fact turned out to be a rumour after all.
“Forget the iPhone,…”
according to the stock price, the investors already have.
Or, more accurately, the non-investors have.