7 ms·

Just imagine how much fun Ive would have designing an orbital space station. What's interesting is how aggressively they're moving into the car space if that's

Just imagine how much fun Ive would have designing an orbital space station. What's interesting is how aggressively they're moving into the car space if that's what's happening. The phone people had no idea, they got blindsided thinking Apple wouldn't have the guts, would never commit the money.

iLoch 11y ago
Not nearly as much fun as he'd have talking about how he designed it.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- tzaman 11y ago
  Not nearly as much fun as YouTubers would have remaking his promo videos :)
  - mitchty 11y ago
    You know the word chamfer would factor in somehow. :)
chetanahuja 11y ago
"Just imagine how much fun Ive would have designing an orbital space station." Unpossible. Space stations need to be displayed against a black background (albeit one punctuated with twinkling dots of light). Ive doesn't do black background.
- dingaling 11y ago
  > Space stations need to be displayed against a black background Depends on your perspective http://www.spacewallpapers.net/wallpapers/albums/Other/normal_o7.jpg http://www.spacewallpapers.net/wallpapers/albums/Other/norma...
simonh 11y ago
I think the phone industry just didn't think it possible that real ground breaking innovation in their industry was at all possible. They imagined a phone must have a physical keyboard, couldn't run a decent web browser and Microsoft was already selling the best mobile OS it was possible to make. It wasn't that they doubted Apple's commitment, they just didn't have the imagination. To be fair to them, Apple timed things perfectly. Even a year earlier SOCs weren't powerful enough to run something like the early iOS. They did in software what they did in hardware much later with the 64-bit transition. They pulled off a superbly executed technological coup just at the point when it became possible to do it at all, beating everyone else to the market by years. If they're planning to do the same with cars, we have interesting times ahead.
- TheOtherHobbes 11y ago
  Cars are a terrible industry to get into. Building cars is massively capital and plant intensive, heavily dependent on supply chain logistics, and the market is already extremely competitive. The entire industry is well on its way to switching to electric and/or self-driving. Selling cars requires a huge dealer network rollout with huge up-front costs for training and spares. Doing it DIY would be insanely expensive, and persuading existing dealers to sign up for a franchise is going to be a tough sell considering Apple's historical treatment of resellers. Apple under Jobs certainly had the imagination to make a good phone - but the phone industry was always fairly crappy, with very clever internals but mediocre UX. I don't see much reason to think that Apple under Cook has the imagination to break open the car industry in the same way. The possible competitive differentials are much smaller, and Cook isn't the most creative CEO Apple has had. If the USP is that Car is electric, looks pretty, and may eventually have some self-driving features - that won't be anywhere close to enough. It's going to need to have some wow to get taken seriously, and even if Jobs were alive and in charge there's limited wow space available. Of course if it flies and/or teleports, that would be something else.
  - givinguflac 11y ago
    Pretty much everything you just said could have car replaced by the word phone, and you'd sound just like MS BB or Nokia in 2007. "Clever internals but crappy ux" describes pretty much every car ever. Regarding dealerships, ever heard of Tesla? It's definitely possible to diy, and Tesla has nothing compared to Apple's resources.
ArkyBeagle 11y ago
To a first approximation, all car companies are extinct.
WalterBright 11y ago
I can't imagine how they could keep a car project secret. Too many people would have to know, and you can't develop a car in a locked room.

iLoch 11y ago

Not nearly as much fun as he'd have talking about how he designed it.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
tzaman 11y ago
Not nearly as much fun as YouTubers would have remaking his promo videos :)
- mitchty 11y ago
  You know the word chamfer would factor in somehow. :)

chetanahuja 11y ago

"Just imagine how much fun Ive would have designing an orbital space station." Unpossible. Space stations need to be displayed against a black background (albeit one punctuated with twinkling dots of light). Ive doesn't do black background.

dingaling 11y ago
> Space stations need to be displayed against a black background Depends on your perspective http://www.spacewallpapers.net/wallpapers/albums/Other/normal_o7.jpg http://www.spacewallpapers.net/wallpapers/albums/Other/norma...

simonh 11y ago

I think the phone industry just didn't think it possible that real ground breaking innovation in their industry was at all possible. They imagined a phone must have a physical keyboard, couldn't run a decent web browser and Microsoft was already selling the best mobile OS it was possible to make. It wasn't that they doubted Apple's commitment, they just didn't have the imagination. To be fair to them, Apple timed things perfectly. Even a year earlier SOCs weren't powerful enough to run something like the early iOS. They did in software what they did in hardware much later with the 64-bit transition. They pulled off a superbly executed technological coup just at the point when it became possible to do it at all, beating everyone else to the market by years. If they're planning to do the same with cars, we have interesting times ahead.

TheOtherHobbes 11y ago
Cars are a terrible industry to get into. Building cars is massively capital and plant intensive, heavily dependent on supply chain logistics, and the market is already extremely competitive. The entire industry is well on its way to switching to electric and/or self-driving. Selling cars requires a huge dealer network rollout with huge up-front costs for training and spares. Doing it DIY would be insanely expensive, and persuading existing dealers to sign up for a franchise is going to be a tough sell considering Apple's historical treatment of resellers. Apple under Jobs certainly had the imagination to make a good phone - but the phone industry was always fairly crappy, with very clever internals but mediocre UX. I don't see much reason to think that Apple under Cook has the imagination to break open the car industry in the same way. The possible competitive differentials are much smaller, and Cook isn't the most creative CEO Apple has had. If the USP is that Car is electric, looks pretty, and may eventually have some self-driving features - that won't be anywhere close to enough. It's going to need to have some wow to get taken seriously, and even if Jobs were alive and in charge there's limited wow space available. Of course if it flies and/or teleports, that would be something else.
- givinguflac 11y ago
  Pretty much everything you just said could have car replaced by the word phone, and you'd sound just like MS BB or Nokia in 2007. "Clever internals but crappy ux" describes pretty much every car ever. Regarding dealerships, ever heard of Tesla? It's definitely possible to diy, and Tesla has nothing compared to Apple's resources.

ArkyBeagle 11y ago

To a first approximation, all car companies are extinct.

WalterBright 11y ago

I can't imagine how they could keep a car project secret. Too many people would have to know, and you can't develop a car in a locked room.