Well, folks. If you’ve been waiting for that special iCar to match your iPhone and Apple watch, this may come as a blow.
It’s not happening.
A company that has $160+ billion dollars to play with and has created so many home-run hits, they just can’t seem to make the numbers work when it comes to creating an electric car.
They just don’t seem to have the cracker jack team of innovators that Elon Musk does.
And even before Tesla, there was General Motors EV1, as seen in Who Killed The Electric Car? A documentary from 2006.
A very entertaining and interesting movie. I suggest you give it a watch.
It followed those that leased their General Motors EV1 and how the company wouldn’t let anyone buy it.
The curious thing is, back then the industry wanted to hide the electric car from the people, as if it was Ivermectin, and they went to extreme lengths to ensure the public didn’t know.
Spoiler: At the end of everyone’s lease, General Motors took back the cars and ended up burying all of them in the desert, much to the horror of all those that had leased them and fell in love with their EV1.
But now the Establishment has ‘resurrected’ the dead electic car and has been pushing hard for us all to jump on board.
Why?
It’s very odd, but maybe it’s because now they have the ability to remotely control them? To turn them off whenever they wish? If we leave our designated smart city? If we try to attend a rally that don’t approve of?
Anyhow, the current public have largely rejected EVs and so has Apple.
Apple tried to make an EV for 10 years, has a cash pile of $162 billion, and still ultimately came to the conclusion that it's too hard, and that margins would be too small—even at a $100k price.
Originally, Apple wanted it to be a fully autonomous vehicle, but they didn't have… pic.twitter.com/zkG8YmGSIC
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) February 27, 2024
Elon salutes his competition’s death.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 27, 2024
Washington Examiner reports:
It looks like Apple will not be bearing the fruits of its labor in developing electric vehicles, as the company has dropped any plans of entering the auto business.
The announcement from Apple was made internally on Tuesday, marking the end of the company’s multiyear endeavor into “Project Titan.” Almost 2,000 employees worked on this project, which started in 2014.
With “Project Titan” winding down development, Apple intends to shift many of the employees from this project to work on artificial intelligence, a field that has exploded in importance in recent years.
Apple’s attempt to enter the electric vehicle market hit multiple speed bumps during its development, including shifting leadership over the project.
The move by Apple was seemingly celebrated by billionaire Elon Musk, the owner of electric vehicle developer Tesla. On social media, Musk posted two emojis sharing the news, one featuring a face giving a salute and another being a lit cigarette.
Apple is said to be canceling a decade-long effort to build an electric car, abandoning one of the most ambitious projects in the history of the company https://t.co/Hn7Q4m8BsT
— Bloomberg (@business) February 27, 2024
Business Insider adds:
he world was quite different when Apple quietly started its electric vehicle project in 2014.
The zero-interest-rate policy (ZIRP) era was in its heyday; the iPhone 6 was fresh enough not to feel incremental to consumers, and the problems of a supply chain wrapped up in China only appeared in glimpses.
That all helped afford Apple the luxury to pursue something behind closed doors far beyond its usual remit of personal gadgets.
A decade on, however, things are looking quite different.
So much so, that a Bloomberg report said Apple was calling it quits on its highly secretive EV push known as Project Titan. Senior executives Jeff Williams and Kevin Lynch reportedly broke news on Tuesday to the near-2,000 people working on the project.
Historically, Apple has had projects in the background that have never made the light of day. For instance, a tablet prototype developed in 1992 called the PenLite never made it to shelves. Neither did the AirPower, a wireless charging mat announced in 2017.
But in canceling a project that would have taken Apple into an entirely new industry, the company is signaling that it’s done with side hobbies. And for good reason.
AI and mixed reality priorities
At an almost $3 trillion market capitalization, and as one of the most cash-rich companies today, it’s easy to think Apple has the resources to continue plowing cash into side projects.
But in 2024, it’s clear that Apple has a lot of other new areas to throw money at.
Having launched its Vision Pro mixed reality headset this month, the company has already committed itself to scaling and commercializing a technology that presents an entirely new business area.
The $3,500 goggles are not expected to be an immediate revenue driver. Still, the company will need to devote serious effort toward innovating the headset over the years, amid user complaints about its weight and comfort.
That’s particularly so as competitors like Mark Zuckerberg post public teardowns of Apple’s foray into mixed reality — a technology far from hitting mainstream appeal.
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