
Tesla Snags Apple VP Of Mac Hardware To Lead New Vehicle Development - ot
http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/24/tesla-reportedly-poaches-apple-vp-of-product-design-doug-field-to-lead-new-vehicle-development/
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codex
Before Apple, Field was VP of Design & Engineering and CTO at Segway.

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grinich
I highly recommend the book _Code Name Ginger_ , which is the remarkable story
behind the Segway.

[http://www.amazon.com/Code-Name-Ginger-Behind-
Segway/dp/1578...](http://www.amazon.com/Code-Name-Ginger-Behind-
Segway/dp/1578516730/ref=pd_sim_b_2)

~~~
codex
What's remarkable to me is the arrogance of Kamen, when to almost everyone it
was clear that the Segway was a solution in search of a problem, and would
ultimately fail.

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seanmcdirmid
Sometimes you have to take a risk. The Segway could have panned out much more
differently than it did, there was a chance that it could have succeeded big.

Also, most startups fail.

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PanMan
How could the Segway panned out differently? (Serious question). I was quite
exited to see it at first, but realistically it doesn't have many advantages
over a bicycle, and a lot of disadvantages (biggest one is price).

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pjmlp
It gets used a lot in Europe for tourist group rounds around the cities. :)

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JanezStupar
I'm an European and I didn't see a Segway in person until I visited Florida.
There I saw loads of security personnel riding Segways.

And they looked so incredibly dorky with their plump bodies and tucked in
shirts.

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pjmlp
I already seen Segways routes in Düsseldorf, London, Athens, Nice, Frankfurt
Airport.

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c2
Interesting move. While I can see some overlap in experience leading large
technical projects where industrial design and battery life are of paramount
importance, I wonder how much of that experience will translate into actual
car development.

From the outside looking in I'd rather fill that role with someone with car
industry experience bringing actual cars to market, because battery life and
industrial design are somewhat fungible, but if Tesla is late on bringing car
models to market that has a serious effect on their timelines.

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jcomis
Did you even read the article? He has automotive experience (Ford) and other
transportation experience (Segway).

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c2
I missed it the first time through, although I'm not surprised as in the
article his previous automobile engineering experience seems downplayed.

Equating his segway experience to all of transportation seems a stretch.

According to his linked in profile he was a development engineer at Ford for 6
years and hasn't worked in the car industry for 20 years. Certainly he does
not seem to possess any executive experience in the car industry or related to
car development.

As a TSLA investor, it makes more sense to me to have someone in that role who
actually has experience getting cars to market (ie. someone like Bob Lutz).

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abat
By the same logic, Apple shouldn't have hired him and Elon Musk should not
have started Tesla.

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foobarqux
Musk didn't start Tesla.

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maxharris
Please don't start on that, because it's very misleading. Everyone involved
settled that dispute years ago (2009):
[http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10357665-54.html?tag=mncol](http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10357665-54.html?tag=mncol)

Others had crucial roles as well, but without Musk providing the funding and
management, Tesla would have just been another dead electric car company.

~~~
foobarqux
No, saying he is a founder is misleading. He played a critical role in Tesla
and it surely would have failed if he were not involved but his initial
involvement was as an investor in an existing enterprise.

There was a settlement that allows Musk to call himself "founder" in exchange
for, I presume, some compensation. There was no legal ruling on facts only a
private agreement between parties.

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loceng
Well-played.

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AsymetricCom
Would have been better-played 6 mos ago.

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loceng
Why?..

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AsymetricCom
Well, for one, it wasn't already clear to the public that TSLA was going to be
successful then.

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toomuchtodo
The investing public says otherwise:

[https://www.google.com/finance/chart?q=NASDAQ:TSLA&tlf=12&ch...](https://www.google.com/finance/chart?q=NASDAQ:TSLA&tlf=12&chst=vks&chs=330x96&chsc=1&p=6M)

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AsymetricCom
So what was he waiting for?

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toomuchtodo
Perhaps not to see how Tesla was going to do, but to see if Apple could
continue its streak. After their latest announcement events, some may argue
that streak has ended.

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bennyg
You are reading waaaay too much into this.

