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I have a little trouble seeing all the businesses you see, which unsubstantiates your point a bit for me. For example, being a leader in direct sales is great

I have a little trouble seeing all the businesses you see, which unsubstantiates your point a bit for me. For example, being a leader in direct sales is great for their goal of spreadings EVs. But how is this applicable anywhere else outside the car industry? Does apple 'monetize' direct sales as a 'channel'? Does apple 'monetize' JIT manufacturing as a 'channel'? To me they just use it as a tool to better position the company. Similarly, once established it's unlikely other car manufacturers will consistently buy motors from them. Fortunately or not, electric induction motors are beautifully simple, any manufacturer could come up with a design much quicker than an ICE for example. Now for it's two markets, electric cars and commercial batteries, I do think they're posed to succeed provided pure electric cars actually gain widespread adoption and so do Li-ion batteries (and not other storage methods which may turn out to be cheaper). The interesting point for me is that all his business currently rely on steady, yet iterative, technological improvement to reach their goals (they're already successful, but haven't reached the ultimate goals yet). Tesla needs better batteries, SolarCity better cells, SpaceX reusable rockets. It will indeed be a thrill to watch over the next few years.

NamTaf 12y ago
> Does apple 'monetize' direct sales as a 'channel'? Does apple 'monetize' JIT manufacturing as a 'channel'? Yes, keeping their stock pool as low as it does has real financial benefits associated with it. Cook's entire empire at Apple was built on the back of his prowess at streamlining this, such is the value of it to the business. In that sense, they certainly did monetise their skills in JIT manufacture. I'd argue they also did monetise the direct sales aspect, since the whole 'Apple Store' experience is presumably of net financial gain to them, or else they wouldn't do it.
cloudwalking 12y ago
I agree with what you are saying. I'd just like to be pedantic about 300+ HP induction motors: they are deceivingly complex to manufacture. The tolerances required are measured in microns. Fortunately, the motors are inexpensive (relative to ICE engines), easy to swap out of the car, and cheap to teardown and rebuild. Manufacturing, design for manufacturing, and efficient service and rework departments will be important for scaling motor production.

NamTaf 12y ago

> Does apple 'monetize' direct sales as a 'channel'? Does apple 'monetize' JIT manufacturing as a 'channel'? Yes, keeping their stock pool as low as it does has real financial benefits associated with it. Cook's entire empire at Apple was built on the back of his prowess at streamlining this, such is the value of it to the business. In that sense, they certainly did monetise their skills in JIT manufacture. I'd argue they also did monetise the direct sales aspect, since the whole 'Apple Store' experience is presumably of net financial gain to them, or else they wouldn't do it.

cloudwalking 12y ago

I agree with what you are saying. I'd just like to be pedantic about 300+ HP induction motors: they are deceivingly complex to manufacture. The tolerances required are measured in microns. Fortunately, the motors are inexpensive (relative to ICE engines), easy to swap out of the car, and cheap to teardown and rebuild. Manufacturing, design for manufacturing, and efficient service and rework departments will be important for scaling motor production.