Wonder if they made the decision before. or after, the “L&Ses” in DC made defunding EV subsidies part of their hit list?
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The market for EVs is in major flux for the next 4-7 yrs. The changes in battery tech–and other related areas–means there is no market for an Apple EV because they are not, in any way, able to identify what will be the market over the next number of years.
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Did Steve Jobs announce the iPhone five years before it came out?
Tim Cook is a bureaucrat, not an innovator. My current MacBook Pro is one of the buggiest Macs I have ever owned (since 1984). I figured there would never be an Apple Car. You can leverage the Apple User Interface from computers to iPhones and to other consumers electronics but to cars? A stretch! But bureacrats don’t get it.
The Captain
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Reading the article, it seems Apple was interested in an autonomous vehicle rather than an EV.
" Reports of Apple’s ambition to build a car first surfaced in 2014 after the company recruited automotive engineers and other talent from auto companies. While there was little public information about Apple’s plans, the company operated a program with autonomous Apple-owned cars equipped with sensors and safety drivers cruising around the San Francisco Bay Area…
"Apple and CEO Tim Cook never acknowledged the car project publicly, instead referring to it as work on autonomous systems.”
DB2
Bureaucrats understand “branding” very well however. Apple is a cult, just like Tesla. A bureaucrat would be perfectly fine buying EV technology from someone, pasting an Apple label on it, and charging a premium price, because it has an “Apple” label on it.
Steve
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The timing of Apple’s decision to cancel their EV program in relation to the political climate and potential changes in EV subsidies does add an extra layer of complexity to the situation. It’s possible that the changing landscape around subsidies could have influenced their decision-making process, considering how integral such incentives can be to the economics of launching new technologies in the EV space. Apple’s move might reflect a strategic pivot or reassessment of market conditions and regulatory support. It will be fascinating to see if they redirect their innovative efforts into other sectors or if this is merely a pause in their automotive ambitions.
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The overarching theme in Apple’s product strategy across their platforms involves leveraging what Apple believes is unique expertise in designing good user interfaces and “metaphors” for those interfaces across different products – desktop PCs, media players, phones, tablets, wearables, VR. That design expertise is further leveraged by a software model that is a closed shop, using that commonality in user interface themes and actual INCOMPATIBILITY with anything else as a walled-garden to keep customers IN its product ecosystem.
The design of electric vehicles obviously provides opportunity to create an Apple-themed “user interface” for the dashboard and navigation systems which may require linkage to charging control systems but there are MANY other individual control systems needed for automobiles involving steering, heat management, accident avoidance, braking, traction control, etc. Apple internally has ZERO expertise in those “non-human” control systems and their implementation. In a changing market where other car makers are hemhorraging sales and laying off engineers, some of that engineering expertise MAY be available but at least 60% of the design work of a new electric vehicle is beyond Apple’s current software and hardware DNA.
I suspect Apple realizes that and may have internally decided there are other factors impacting EV demand that will make a continued attempt to get in early very risky to Apple financially. From a tech culture / early adopter perspective, it’s likely Tesla has already capture the typical affluent / hip demographic that is an Apple buyer for phones and PCs so Apple’s natural market is not there waiting for Apple to “release” a car. They already have a Tesla. A pretty expensive one.
Yes, Apple can “afford” to continue making an EV attempt given their market cap but it is not necessarily in their shareholder’s financial interest for Apple to spend money trying to plow its way through a learning curve that no one else has mastered yet. Does this signal a complete, permanent abandonment of a possible EV product? Probably not. I think Apple just wants the demand equation to emerge from the current fog. Then they can make a more informed decision on the wisdom of attempting to become a “heavy metal” manufacturer. Making a disposable watch or a tablet or a PC with a $799 custom microprocessor and $1400 of overpriced RAM that someone else actually made is vastly different than building a 4,000 pound vehicle with suspension parts that have to work for 20 years.
WTH
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One thing to consider here is that Apple Carplay already one of the two default “operating” systems for vehicle entertainment and navigation systems.
Apple can hoover all your data without the messy work of trying to run the car as well.
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Dealbook NYC column by Andrew Ross Sorkin did an excellent write up on this. I will not copy it here.
Some points
EV is running to a very low markup per unit.
Ford and GM are dealing with Apple. Apple does not need to produce the vehicle.
Apple learned a lot about making computer “time” if you will for EV passengers.
My own opinion people want Ford and GM EV products. With some universals such as the charging plug this year those two companies will expand over time in the EV market.
These are now just regular GM offerings
Just regular Ford offerings
Anyone saying Ford and GM do not have EV products that was so 2023.
This is a year where F and GM combined may come close to equal in sales to Tesla in EV units.