
What if Apple bought Tesla? - hna0002
http://thenextweb.com/apple/2014/02/17/apple-bought-tesla/
======
abalone
This is a great test of whether you "get" Apple. A lot of comments about what
Apple should be doing, like how to take more market share from Android or
Windows, actually make zero sense for Apple. This one actually does make
sense.

The right kind of perspective on this is -- and it will make some people
apoplectic -- future cars are like iPads with wheels. They both are basically
giant batteries with very sophisticated software and well crafted interfaces.
Apple has the engineering organization to deliver those key things along with
a certain approach to integrating services, sales and support. What they're
missing is the automotive engineering and that's something Tesla has done a
great job of building up.

The price would be unusually high for an Apple acquisition but only in
absolute terms. What makes it an "Apple-y" acquisition target is that it's an
engineering piece of a much larger system, the "iPad on wheels", where the
real future value is.

That is why Jobs was confident an Apple car would take 50% of the market. Not
by building a better mousetrap but by redefining the product category.

~~~
kamaal
I'm not sure why you think to look at car sales in terms of 'how a car looks
and feels'. There are manufacturers like BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Ferrari etc
who have already solved those problems. And not just merely that. A lot of
sophisticated software already runs in cars.

These days, nearly every car manufacturer has high end cars which have these.

Unless you have simply too radical a thing to offer, everything what you say
already exists.

~~~
abalone
You don't get it. You're still looking at Apple as just a brand.

The iPhone didn't just have a different "look and feel". It redefined the
category and obsoleted everything else overnight. That same process could
happen with cars.

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rkuykendall-com
Apple is such an absolutely massive company, but Musk makes them look so
small. On the one hand, Apple has more brand recognition and cash than God. On
the other hand, when you spend your time dreaming about electric cars,
rockets, and hyperloops... who would want to play with laptops?

Musk plays the game on an entirely different level.

I think Sergey Brin understands this. Google is playing on that level. Self-
driving cars, robotics, machine learning, Google Glass, augmented reality,
NLP, etc.

The future will be a different world, and while Apple shaped much of the last
20 years, I'm afraid that time is over.

~~~
enraged_camel
>>The future will be a different world, and while Apple shaped much of the
last 20 years, I'm afraid that time is over.

This statement is a very good example of how successful Apple's secrecy
practices are.

You look at Google and seeing all the "cool" shit they are publicizing. Glass,
robots, NLP, and so on.

You then look at Apple and see... nothing. Maybe a few speculative press
release from mysterious "sources" but nothing that will clearly indicate what
they are working on in their underground bunkers. Short of a prototype device
being stolen in public, you don't know with any certainty what the hell they
are working on.

So then you conclude that Google has a good grasp of the future whereas Apple
is sliding into irrelevance.

That's exactly what Apple wants.

The first rule of warfare is to hide your plans and movements from the enemy.
Apple is in a great position right now: the only thing the tech world knows
for certain they are working on is the next versions of their current product
line.

To give you an idea of how advantageous this position is: the iPhone was
released from a similar position of extreme secrecy. That's why competitors
were at least a year, if not two or more, behind. By the time they caught up,
Apple had already built a war chest of tens of billions of dollars.

To suggest that they aren't doing anything that will shape the future is the
epitome of silliness.

~~~
kamaal
>>iPhone was released from a similar position of extreme secrecy.

Every one knew that a iPhone was coming. The surprise was just how radically
different the UI was. The kind of thing they had packed in such a small place.

The surprise was what iPhone was, not if apple was building a phone. The
latter was very well known.

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fennecfoxen
I'm not seeing the synergies - the in-dash entertainment center having similar
styling just isn't cutting it for me. That sort of thing would be more suited
for a partnership kind of deal.

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gkoberger
I was really hoping Microsoft would, and make Elon Musk CEO of Microsoft (back
when they were looking still).

Musk is a Microsoft fan. Microsoft would get a much-needed visionary, and
Tesla (and other initiatives) would get a much-needed cash infusion.

I don't think Musk/Tesla would fit in at Apple. Apple already has enough
"vision". I can't see him wanting to answer to anyone, and I can't see Apple
giving him the reigns from Tim Cook (like the article agrees with).

~~~
lalos
Can you elaborate on why is Musk a huge Microsoft fan?

~~~
gkoberger
Not to say he also isn't a fan of Apple/Google/etc, however he famously was
fired as CEO of PayPal for trying to switch the site from UNIX to a .NET
stack.

Source: [http://www.businessinsider.com/the-paypal-mafia-is-even-
more...](http://www.businessinsider.com/the-paypal-mafia-is-even-more-
powerful-2011-11?op=1)

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ameister14
I don't see Musk working well within the structure Tim Cook would need to
create in order for Tim to keep his job. I think it would be a huge mistake
for Tesla.

Plus, the kind of manufacturing and operations Tesla is looking at is
something Apple would be just as inexperienced with, and still might not work
out.

To me, it would make sense for a Detroit company to buy Tesla. Older group
cannibalizes younger while letting them retain overall independence. Car
brands have done that before.

~~~
drdeadringer
> To me, it would make sense for a Detroit company to buy Tesla

Part of me thought of Tesla buying a part of Detroit.

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bagels
Is it possible the meetings were about batteries?

Tesla is going to start making their own batteries. Apple uses a lot of
batteries.

[http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_24531612/tesla-
motors...](http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_24531612/tesla-motors-may-
make-its-own-batteries)

~~~
ksec
I had the same thinking. The only thing holding back current CE are battery.
And it hasn't had any breakthrough for a long time. Although what the article
stated isn't with any battery breakthrough but rather production issues.

And didnt we had a discussion long time ago World Reserve of Lithium not being
a sustainable source for battery.

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JanSolo
What? No! Of course they shouldn't. There's such a small overlap of core
competencies that it makes it very hard for Apple to tell if they're getting a
good deal or not. That should be enough of a reason for them to think twice.
All of this speculation reminds me of the AOL/Time warner or Skype/Ebay
mergers. They were lauded as revolutionary at the time, but eventually fell
apart when the companies discovered they had nothing in common. So will it be
with Apple/Tesla, in my opinion. If Apple wants to make a big, high profile
investment that's aligned much better with their core business, they should
buy an ISP/Mobile Network like Verizon or AT&T. Then they could shake up both
sectors by cutting prices & encouraging competition.

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BocceBaal
If Apple bought Tesla...

-The car would only have one pedal, not two, to make it easier for new drivers.

-It won't have Windows.

-The navigation would use Apple Maps.

~~~
CamperBob2
-It would only allow you to take preapproved exits on the Interstate

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webwielder
Ah, very clever, omitting the question mark at the end of the title, thereby
avoiding the imperatives of Betteridge's Law by technicality.

EDIT: And I see the actual article title got around the law in a different
way, by asking the question such that the answer "No" is nonsensical! Still, I
like the sound of that exchange:

Writer: What if Apple bought Tesla? Me: NO

~~~
kristianp
Ha yes, exactly. This article is a big fantasy by someone who thinks Apple can
bring something to Tesla apart from some design rules for the tablet in the
dash.

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melvinmt
Seems to me Google will be the better fit.

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ksec
OH FOR Christ Sake.

Are all these Journalist really that much of an idiot? Or do they try to sell
a new Steve Jobs to the world.

Elon Musk is not Steve Jobs, Far from it. Not saying this as good thing or a
bad thing. But for those area that Steve Jobs are genius at, Elon Musk doesn't
even earn pass marks.

Lei Jun , CEO of Xiaomi, I mean WTF, Steve Jobs of China? I admit Lei Jun is
good in things Steve Jobs aren't very good it. But again, no Lei Jun is not
another Steve Jobs.

~~~
incongruity
I think you miss the forest for the trees. Jobs wasn't just someone with a
certain set of skills that we have to compare against the skills of others --
he was someone with a certain self-confident aura about him that brought big
ideas to life. Elon Musk is proving to be something similar, even if _how_ he
does it is very different.

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spullara
Certainly this would be the fastest path to automated electric cars, the
hyperloop, the singularity and probably Mars.

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hna0002
Apple does have interest in cars. Last year Apple patented Car Dashboard
touchscreens. [http://mashable.com/2013/07/18/apple-car-dashboard-
patent/](http://mashable.com/2013/07/18/apple-car-dashboard-patent/)

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Avitas
Excellent, excellent and, dare I say, excellent idea!!!

Other excellent 'OMG tht wud b 2 awsum' dynamic synergy takeover/purchase
ideas:

1) Santa Claus buys Disney

2) Comcast buys Time Warner

3) Superman buys Spiderman

4) Peter GriffIn buys statue of Gwyneth Paltrow making out with Harriet Tubman

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kailuowang
It means that the only way to add music to your car is through iTunes.

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nighthawk24
Apple would wish.. Elon would not sell..

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finishingmove
What if Tesla bought Apple, and then Elon Musk turned out to be a pawn of the
Agricultural Bank of China?

~~~
plumeria
Can you elaborate? I don't get it.

~~~
finishingmove
Well... Apple is more or less top dog now. But sooner or later a bigger fish
will swim up to them :) I found the idea of Apple buying Tesla funny, because
in my eyes Tesla could very well be the bigger fish in the future. Does the
Chinese reference need explaining given this context? :P

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linux_devil
What if google buys tesla? But I did hear that such conversations are going
on.

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coldcode
Steve would roll over in his grave.

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Eleutheria
It would go bankrupt within a couple of years.

Tesla survives because of government incentives but if you were to invest
private money on it, research would eat most of it in the blink of an eye.

