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[Darryl]

Lol. Classic. "PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They aren't going to just walk in." – Palm CEO Ed Colligan.

Underestimating Apple, if you're in a market Apple is not yet in, is always a bad move.

their track record isn't much better than microsoft, they just bail out before they fail to protect their brand image

 

[eyeball_kid]

Apple has a lot of money and no vision. What have they done since Job's passed? A dumb, preposterously over priced watch and they took the headphone jack off the iPhone. Oooo.

He says in a thread where Apple backs the fuck up and out....

Back in reality we realize that while they may have done it before, it doesn't mean they can do it EVERYWHERE. The only one being silly is you.

Well,
1) They aren't out of the car market yet. We don't know what their short or long-term plans are.
2) Deciding to not build a product doesn't mean Apple admitted defeat, as if it was impossible, or the competition was just too good. It just means it wasn't the right strategic move for them. They have over $200 billion in cash. They could build a car if they wanted to. They apparently decided against it, at least for now.

 

[hydragonwarrior]

Would've required Foxconn to raise worker salary from $12 a day to $12.5 and that would've been too steep.

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

Apple's MO is refining the hell out of existing technology, not pioneering new tech.

That Apple died with the Newton, which ironically was the basis for the iPod.

 

[CosmicGroinPull]

You're right, I guess Apple would rather sit on their pile of cash instead.

Don't know why some of you are so happy Apple's seemingly out of the car business though - whatever business Apple tries to get into has no bearing on me whatsoever. In fact, it would be better to have more players in electric cars for its growth.

 

[medrew]

I feel like there needs to be a Samsung joke (though the clock is ticking on that turning old) about them making a car that explodes but I'm too tired and unfunny to word it right...

Samsung is already in the electric game. They started a car company but sold out to Renault in the 90's. They still own 20℅ of Samsung-Renault.

Not surprising in the least. R&D for 2015:
VW $15b
Toyota $9b
Daimler $8b
GM $7b
Ford $7b
Honda $6b
BMW $6b

There's a reason there isn't new car companies breaking through. Tesla has managed because of their timing and very favourable government grants

 

[numble]

Would've required Foxconn to raise worker salary from $12 a day to $12.5 and that would've been too steep.

High import tariffs on cars would mean that the cars would be built in the US or Mexico/Canada. Even after TPP, the shipment costs would make it a barrier to build cars in an Asian TPP country, which is why you see heavy Apple products (the iMac and Mac Pro) assembled in the United States. The TPP delays a full reduction on foreign vehicle duties for 25 years, anyway.

 

[HyperionX]

Samsung is already in the electric game. They started a car company but sold out to Renault in the 90's. They still own 20℅ of Samsung-Renault.

Not surprising in the least. R&D for 2015:
VW $15b
Toyota $9b
Daimler $8b
GM $7b
Ford $7b
Honda $6b
BMW $6b

There's a reason there isn't new car companies breaking through. Tesla has managed because of their timing and very favourable government grants

Even worse, I'm thinking Tesla will not be able to manage for much longer. It looks like they are in need of a massive capital raise along the lines of 12.5 billion dollars in order to fund all of the current and future obligations. It's pretty clear to me that Apple is simply isn't willing to squander the insane amounts of money needed to make this work.

 

[medrew]

An iMac or Mac Pro would probably cost like $2 each to ship on a sea freight container. Sea costs are more volumetric than weight.

 

[reKon]

the dream is dead, oh well. It's going to be cool with what all the big manufacturers come out with around 2020 to compete with Telsa.

 

[numble]

An iMac or Mac Pro would probably cost like $2 each to ship on a sea freight container. Sea costs are more volumetric than weight.

They ship on demand, and via air, which is why your tracking for iPhones or iPads will show they depart from China.

 

[Milly Osworth]

Probably for the best. In version 7 they would remove the breaks or something.

 

[mrkgoo]

How can it be "Dead" when it was never "alive"? Apple are constantly pumping money into projects that never make it to light of day as a consumer release. It's all part of R&D.

 

[Qvoth]

Fully autonomous cars in 2020?
We'd be lucky if we'll even see that materialize in 2050

 

[black_13]

That's a rather large leap to go from selling phones to cars.

Smartest idea would probably be to make some electric bikes or a segway and slowly build on that idea.

 

[Lord Error]

If their autonomous driving AI is going to be as smart and reliable as their Siri is right now, whatever they're making is not going to be welcome in anyone's car. Google is just consistently and demonstrably better than them in this area, not to mention the insanely huge lead they already have on driving AI.