Elon Musk has been sharing an interesting moment he claimed took place during the difficult production of the Tesla Model 3 electric car. According to the tech executive, he "reached out" to Apple's Tim Cook with an eye on Tesla being acquired by the iPhone maker but couldn't even land a meeting. Rumors of the Apple Car (iCar) launch have been flying around lately.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Tim-Cook-apparently-refused-to-meet-with-Elon-Musk-in-regard-to-potential-Apple-takeover-of-Tesla-during-Model-3-production.511943.0.html
This is because Apple was already working on its own car. If Tim took that meeting and didn't buy Tesla, Tesla would be suing him right now.
The whole thing about Apple's existing customers embracing an Apple car, is that it simply doesn't follow.
It's one thing to be a fan (and customer) of a premium consumer electronics brand, it's quite another to be a fan of a car company.
There are many Lamborghini/Ferrari and perhaps even Tesla fans. Very few of them actually own the cars however, as a car is a much larger investment than a phone or laptop and a premium car is even more again.
At the end of the day, Apple makes its money by being a premium brand with a widespread following i.e achieving high profit margins through sale of expensive products, over a large base of customers.
This isn't sustainable when the price of those expensive goods goes from a few thousand dollars at most, to tens of thousands of dollars. The reduction in the total addressable market alone is probably 10x if not 100x.
Quote from: t4n0n on December 23, 2020, 12:57:47
The whole thing about Apple's existing customers embracing an Apple car, is that it simply doesn't follow.
It's one thing to be a fan (and customer) of a premium consumer electronics brand, it's quite another to be a fan of a car company.
There are many Lamborghini/Ferrari and perhaps even Tesla fans. Very few of them actually own the cars however, as a car is a much larger investment than a phone or laptop and a premium car is even more again.
At the end of the day, Apple makes its money by being a premium brand with a widespread following i.e achieving high profit margins through sale of expensive products, over a large base of customers.
This isn't sustainable when the price of those expensive goods goes from a few thousand dollars at most, to tens of thousands of dollars. The reduction in the total addressable market alone is probably 10x if not 100x.
The point is that, given the choice between similar cars at similar prices from Tesla or Apple, many people will choose the Apple car largely due to the fact they are "fans" of the company, whether because they feel Apple products are just better, they think it will be better to have a car from the same company as their other products for better integration, or they just want to own everything Apple. It's not necessarily that this will be their sole reasoning, but that it will weigh into their decision process, and it's not that they're going to buy a $45k Apple car vs a $35k Tesla simply because it's Apple, but that if they're both in the same ballpark, the consumer may be swayed toward the Apple due to their preference for the brand in general. IOW, it just gives Apple a slight edge over their competition. And there's nothing wrong with that, it's just what it is.