
Apple exploring cars, medical devices to reignite growth - cpeterso
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Apple-exploring-cars-medical-devices-to-reignite-5239850.php
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FD3SA
I don't think Tesla has anything to gain from Apple. The last thing Elon wants
is useless execs butting heads with him on critical design decisions. Tesla is
a product company, and any interference with the product will kill them
instantly.

Furthermore, Tesla's entire software ecosystem is already mature, so there'd
be no gain from Apple on that front.

All that's left is cash, which they can get from Wall St. or any other
investor on the planet right now.

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nostromo
Tesla could learn a lot from Apple. The touchscreen UI is extremely dated. It
reminds me of Windows Media Player.

[http://i.imgur.com/Gsqslrd.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/Gsqslrd.jpg)

[http://i.imgur.com/3ZfHi1b.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/3ZfHi1b.jpg)

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anologwintermut
And windows media player worked fine until it had competitors. Realistically,
while Tesla's UI might be awful, it's better than a lot of them and moreover,
not a major point of competition: few people buy cars for the UI.

Dealing with the additional organization overhead doesn't seem to offer much
of a gain.

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k-mcgrady
I'm most interested in the medical stuff Apple is reportedly pursuing with the
iWatch. The M7 in the iPhone is the one thing holding me back from a Nexus 5.
I use the Runkeeper app and it can track my activities automatically now and
is quite accurate (e.g. I set it to record any walk/run longer than 15 mins).
I also use the Moves app to track my steps throughout the day. It's quite
accurate and with the M7 I haven't noticed any battery drain. If Apple can add
sensors to measure several more data points that I can improve upon over time
(as I have been trying to do with steps taken daily) it could impact my health
quite significantly.

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XorNot
That's consumer health, not medical. Medical is a _very_ different type of
thing. You can slap 'not for medical applications' on lots of things to
deflect liability, but that's just the same market as Fitbit and whatever.

No one with an insulin pump cares about whether Apple made it, and the
requirements of important medical devices scale in a way which blows branding
and even UI out of consideration.

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seehafer
Type 1 Diabetics have been asking for an insulin pump "as simple as the
iPhone" for _years_. I would know, I've worked on insulin pump designs.

Branding certainly is not important, but UI is incredibly important in a
number of medical devices, insulin pumps among them. Back in the early 00's a
startup company won significant share in a few short years against the
behemoth near-monopolist in the market by differentiating only on UI.

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IBM
Buying Tesla at its current insane valuation would be a huge mistake for Apple
and completely out of character for them. They didn't get their cash pile by
being stupid with money. Following Google and others into the narrative of
"acquisitions = innovation" is short sighted and will be seen as stupid once
the current cycle is over.

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adventured
Fortunately there's no chance of Apple buying Tesla.

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toomuchtodo
Google could though. They have a ~400 billion dollar market cap, compared to
TSLA's 24 billion. You don't even need to buy them outright; just buy a
controlling interest.

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nwh
If the articles I've read are to be believed, Apple has at least $150B in cash
just lying around. Tesla wouldn't be a huge chunk of that if they were so
inclined.

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w1ntermute
Most of that $150B is sitting in overseas tax havens. Just repatriating it to
buy Tesla would cost them a bundle.

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sjtgraham
Would it need to be repatriated to Apple Inc? Say for arguments sake Apple
Sales International in Ireland (or any global subsidiary company) has enough
cash on its books to buy Tesla. ASI is a separate legal entity from Apple Inc,
albeit owned by it. Couldn't ASI de jure buy and control Tesla and Apple Inc
de facto control it by virtue of controlling ASI? What counts as repatriation?
I'm not sure, but it's very interesting.

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coob
I would have thought that the meeting with Musk would have been about Tesla's
plans for battery production (with _partners_ ) more than anything else:

[http://electrek.co/2014/01/15/elon-musk-confirms-tesla-
gigaf...](http://electrek.co/2014/01/15/elon-musk-confirms-tesla-gigafactory-
battery-plant-to-be-built-in-us-with-partners-announcement-next-month/)

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dredmorbius
Anyone else on mobile have the site menu obscuring the right side of the page?

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lacero
They missed the chance to get a good deal on Tesla. It's too late Apple. Move
on.

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protomyth
Why buy Tesla and screw up the current iPhone / Siri integration strategy?

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vishaldpatel
iTravel and iFeelGood :D

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Eleutheria
I'll give my money to Apple for a couple of 60" TVs and a pair of iWatches,
iTags are the future.

So there, shut up and take my $5k.

