Apple on Monday made history by becoming the first publicly traded company with a market cap of $3 trillion. It’s now peeking over and under that bar with the usual vagaries of the market. Apple’s journey to $4 trillion will be powered, in part, by its AR/VR headset and, later, potentially, the “Apple Car.”
Daniel Howley for Yahoo Finance:
So where does the company go from here? There’s the obvious — more iPhones that get people into the company’s ecosystem and accessories like the Apple Watch and AirPods to keep them hooked. But the company will also need to take big risks on its way to $4 trillion…
When it comes to headsets, however, Apple will not only have to improve comfort and image quality — it will also have to ensure plenty of apps can take advantage of the hardware. After all, while current consumer headsets are largely geared towards gamers, Apple is looking for volume sales, and that means offering apps that appeal to non-gamers too.
And even when Apple launches its headset, it might be some time before the mainstream gets on the bandwagon, if it ever does, according to Loup Ventures’ Gene Munster… However, the headset could evolve into an essential product. Apple has managed this before with the Apple Watch, which had a chilly reception before the company shifted its focus to fitness and saw sales explode. And if Apple can do the same with the headset, Munster explained, it could eventually rival the iPhone’s sales.
While it’s easy to see where Apple’s headset fits into its product portfolio, the rumored Apple car is about as far afield from its base expertise as it gets. But if Apple can pull off a car of its own, it could dictate the company’s future as much as the original iPhone did…
In 2021, the company spent a staggering $21.9 billion on R&D. For comparison, Microsoft, the closest company to Apple in market cap, spent $5.6 billion.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s $3 trillion market value is merely a waypoint, as will be $4 trillion in the not too distant future.
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What are the sales of Oculus or other VR/AR headsets?… if they are lame, I see nothing significant that Apple could alter in a headset, no matter how well it may perform otherwise that will cause them to fly off the shelves.
As for Apple Car, this ongoing fantasy that Apple is actually going to be like Tesla and have HUGE auto plants with an Apple logo on them, not a chance, even if that was never the plan, they have to convince someone to build it for them, last I read that was not going so well.. And chances are, even if somehow an Apple Car does magically appear from somewhere in the next couple years, it will probably be so expensive it will probably be competing with Telsa for the highest price EV..
While Apple releases a very small set of new products, you have decided that history means nothing if you believe Apple doesn’t expand markets for itself and competitors. Wireless ear buds existed, smartwatches existed, tablets existed, smartphones existed. Apple’s entry into these markets exploded them for both Apple and competition.
BTW, the article literally points out people scoffed at the smartwatch(they scoffed at AirPods too). Annnnd what, ahem, happened? So now somebody, you, scoffs at Apple’s new product release. While the road is littered with people scoffing, the scoffers don’t even hesitate to scoff again. Interesting…
Agreed on the AR/VR headsets, why? What redeeming value for mankind beyond a cheap trick that will get old fast. Nothing beats down home reality.
As for cars, agree with you Apple most likely will never manufacture a vehicle. They don’t make their other products all contracted out. Elon Musk the creative mercurial genius that can pivot on a dime to compete and is years ahead right now. As contrasted by timid Tim who has been dilly dallying around since 2014. Apple Car development has never been officially announced or confirmed by Apple.
I have driven a hydrogen powered SUV and a natural gas county car — BOTH are clean energy. EVs are not clean energy the dirty cousin the majority of electricity made from coal and that will only increase. Also batteries have the potential to explode and impeding landfill nightmare will exponentially increase in coming decades.
10 years ago all local county buses and government offices were fitted to run natural gas and still running strong. Hydrogen has much of the same promise, but not the same wide scale use which is hard to believe the only emission is water.
A self driving car is a non starter. Articles on the internet detail self driving SUVS hacked, the override button disabled and driven off the road into a ditch.
If Apple were to surprise with a self driving natural gas vehicle instantly the new gold standard. But the big business lobbyists in Washington are full court press with Biden’s green dream and promised EV infrastructure.
So alas, the lobbyists are winning and for the present the EVs are green, cough, cough…
Competing with Tesla and winning is worth an additional trillion in value. When Apple has committed to a product who ends up the victor?
The 360 view presents a five-by-three foot virtual notch, similar to the windshield notch for Apple Car, with this virtual space yielding the ability to wormhole through the notch. Apple Car windshield notch will not be considered obstructive by auto safety standards, as rear view mirror would typically occupy this space. However each mirror will have a notch. Objects in the mirrors are closer than they appear; the notch will be as close as it appears.