http://finance.yahoo.com/news/report-apple-hundreds-working-electric-163743309.html?.tsrc=applewf Report: Apple has hundreds working on electric car project NEW YORK (AP) -- You've heard of the iPhone and iPad. How about the iCar? The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple has hired hundreds of people to work on a secret project — code name "Titan" — to develop an electric vehicle. The newspaper cites people familiar with the project who spoke under condition of anonymity. Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr declined to comment. The article says that the vehicle will resemble a minivan and that it would be branded as an Apple product. Apple's industrial design team is staffed with several people with automaking experience, the article says. That group includes Marc Newson, a designer who once created a concept car for Ford. Apple has confirmed that Newson is on its staff. If Apple does sell an electric car, it will face some competitors.
Apple’s strengths as a potential automaker include: 1. $178 Billion The automotive industry churns through cash at an astonishing pace. Apple, as it turns out, has a cash hoard of almost $180 billion. As Musk said last week, Apple is “just running out of ways to spend money. They spend money like it’s water over there and they still can’t spend enough of it.” While the old rule of thumb was that it cost about $1 billion to develop a new car, those costs are now being spread over more vehicles as traditional automakers work to use vehicle platforms for more models, said Dave Sullivan, an automotive industry analyst with AutoPacific. That would be one challenge for Apple, as would a lack of experience building cars, though Thilo Koslowski, vice president and automotive practice leader at Gartner, said they could acquire those manufacturing skills. “It’s well understood because it has been around for 100 years,” he said of building cars. “What isn’t that well understood are the pieces that Apple would potentially bring to the table.” 2. The Ultimate Mobile Device Apple has built its fortune on creating products that are compellingly designed and that integrate software in such a fashion that immerses users’ lives deeper into the Apple world, further hooking them for future upgrades. And it already has car-suited technology -- mapping software, for instance -- ready to go. “The car is one of the most important and critical pieces of the puzzle that you need to master if you want to interact with customers wherever they are,” Koslowski said. “It’s pretty important to have a phone that’s connected, and can show you your calendar and do all kinds of other things, but now extending it to this other device that happens to have four wheels.” 3. Car Guys? The car business seems simple to outsiders, tempting some to think they can do better than Detroit, which spent a generation sliding toward bankruptcy reorganizations before re-emerging to new profits. But the modern automotive industry has a mixed record on how outsiders perform. For every Alan Mulally, who jumped from Boeing Co. to oversee Ford Motor Co.’s renaissance, there’s a Bob Nardelli, the former General Electric Co. executive and Home Depot Inc. CEO, who was at the helm of Chrysler during its bankruptcy. Tesla has so far succeeded while Fisker Automotive, another high-profile electric car company, had its assets sold off in bankruptcy. Apple, meanwhile, has a unique mix of executives with tech and auto experience. The company has long hired engineers from the automotive space, often with experience in supply chain management, battery technology and user-interface experience. Luca Maestri, Apple’s chief financial officer, spent 20 years at General Motors in areas of finance and operations. Eddy Cue, the influential senior vice president of Internet software, is a car enthusiast and on the board of Ferrari. Steve Zadesky, vice president of iPhone product design, who is leading Apple’s car effort, spent time working at Ford earlier in his career. Marc Newson, a well-regarded industrial designer who joined Apple’s secretive design team last year, did a high-profile concept car for Ford in 1999. 4. Retail Network One of the strengths -- and weaknesses -- of traditional automakers has been their dealer networks. It’s hard to open up store fronts around the world fast enough to get the scale needed to sell cars. In the U.S., there are added complexities such as state franchise laws that often prohibit manufacturers from selling cars directly to customers. That’s something Tesla has sought to upend. Rather than selling through franchised dealers, the Palo Alto, California-based automaker operates its own showrooms -- which were created by a former Apple executive -- and takes orders over the Internet. The approach has drawn the ire of franchise dealers and the automaker has butted heads with dealer groups last year in Georgia, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania before reaching compromises. Apple, of course, already has a giant retail network through its hundreds of Apple Stores worldwide, from Brazil to Sweden to Turkey. 5. Apple Does Global The automotive business has a global complexity like few other industries, with regulatory, marketing and logistics issues that can trip up the capital-intense business on any given day. Apple, which designs its products in California but depends upon contractors to assemble them mostly in Asia, is used to managing an on-time supply chain around the world -- something Google Inc. doesn’t do in its day-to-day Internet search business -- and handling the complexities of currency swings throughout global markets. CEO Tim Cook built his reputation at Apple for his ability to navigate those global operations. “That would be a huge plus should they decide to manufacture cars,” Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, said. He said he remains skeptical that Apple wants to get into the actual business of selling cars, rather than just moving deeper into creating operating systems for automakers. “Doing cars is not in Apple’s wheelhouse,” Bajarin said. “It’s more likely they are trying to create a richer, more immersive electronics experience tied to iOS where not only the audio system but the information and possibly new levels of security through sensors and cameras would be part of what they would offer to other carmakers.” Apple could be creating concepts, or reference designs, to integrate technology to demonstrate to automakers, he said.
What wasn't written is that Apple pushes the technology envelope while getting ever more battery life from their products. Battery life and price are the two main factors hurting the electric car.
You'll have to buy two, one for upgrading that'll be in the shop while the other one's operating system is becoming obsolete without support. The one your using will have to be restarted often and won't shut down until you wait for installations
Is beats audio in the car audio game already? Apple has some interesting properties that could translate well into the automobile market
It will just be a regular car but Apple users will claim it's the most advanced and original car ever. "OMG, there are these things called turn signals on the car, Apple does it again! Greatest invention ever! This will revolutionize how we drive forever!"
Geez, I bet the thing will be a beast. More shit than a man ever wanted. If I could buy a new Model A ford with hydraulic brakes. alternator and fuel injection, I would. It would be great for going down to the store or the beach.
Didn't need no welfare state. Everybody pulled his weight. Gee, our old LaSalle ran great. Those were the days! barfo
