I think the author is right about cars being next. There is a lot of work by a lot of people in this area, and one of them is going to get it very right (my personal bet is on Tesla or Apple).
> You're choosing Apple over all the existing car manufacturers?
Yes. Much like smartphones and tablets, they hadn't done much in the space until they exploded on the scene after sitting back and watching everyone else get things wrong. That's what they're really good at -- seeing what others do wrong and not repeating those mistakes.
Unlike tablets though, it's a lot harder to hide when you're making a car. They've already secured a test track and they're hiring vehicle engineers.
Apple had always been involved in that space. The Newton, the eMate, the collaboration with Motorola, and (obviously) the iPod, were all in the same type of device. The latter even had scheduling, contacts and downloadable games which you could buy the iTunes Store, before the iPhone was released.
What did they do in the music player space before the iPod?
What did they do in the phone space before iPhone?
What did they do in the tablet space before the iPad?
How about the watch?
If Apple makes a car--and I'm not totally convinced they will--the "they aren't just going to come in here and do this thing they've never done before" response is sounding awfully stupid these days.
Apple's Newton platform ran on multiple devices with touchscreens, including phones and PDAs which could connect to the Internet and send/receive text messages.
In fact, the current VP of iPad Product Marketing was one of the Newton's marketing product champions.
Apple are very good at the shiny brand thing. Most cars over $20k work just fine these days and a lot of why people pay 2 or 3x that is for status. I can see that working for Apple.
