There ’s been a lot of talk and very picayune activity when it comes to Apple ’s rumouredcar project . And maybe that ’s not so surprising .
The automobile concern is a difficult one to break into and prosper in . It ’s an fantastically complicated , expensive product that study a long time to train . The risk of infection are high , the margins modest and you have to spend a chance before make a penny of profit .
Sure , Apple has the fiscal heftiness . That is n’t in doubt . But this is n’t a company that ’s in the habit of regorge its money around just because it can .
In all the years of rumour about an upcoming Apple car , several manufacturers have been discussed as possible collaborator for the party to apportion the risk with . Early this year , there wastalk of Kia / Hyundai(talk which was laterquashed ) . afterward in the twelvemonth , Foxconn ’s car platformseemed like a fair foundation for Apple to build on .
However , Apple ’s custom of need to hold in the product from conception to the customer ’s threshold is say to havecomplicatedthe negotiations .
There ’s one obvious theatrical role example for Apple to emulate in this industry . In just over a decade the firm has managed to electrify and digitise cars and car possession , streamline production and found something that is at least set out to resemble a plausible ego - driving cable car for consumers . We ’re speak , of course , about Tesla .
It took a decade of toil , and the company came very close to failure . Tesla is finally in a position where it is getting more edict than it can fulfil and the tolerance are looking level-headed . But achiever was never a foregone ending .
Several exciting change are currently happening in the car industry , including electrification , digitisation and sovereign driving . Such great changes get to the door for dinosaur to be killed off and new players to take their place , but the new rules of the game are irregular .
Which makes it nothing short of shocking that the Tim Cook we all know , the capable steward so fond of gamey margins and full control over the entire Ernst Boris Chain , would want to enter such an industry .
But Apple does n’t need to come in it at all . If the company is looking for unexampled areas to make money in , there are other industry that could provide more , and good , bang for its buck .
Take health care and music , for example .
A healthier project
aesculapian equipment is often expensive , and many devices intended for personal use could profit from a small more drug user - centric innovation . At the same clip , there is potential to put more aesculapian devices in the hand of individuals .
Imagine that alternatively of go for a physical examination at your doctor ’s office once every ten eld , a number of datum points are measured every 24-hour interval . You do n’t have to appear at the numbers every hour and stress about it : the data is far more utile when collected over fourth dimension to show positive and negative style . And it ’s much good than getting a blow once a decade .
set a non - invasive , easy - to - usage blood glucose meter in each person ’s deal could do a fortune for the timbre of life of diabetes patients . The product and political platform to deliver the technology already subsist : theApple Watch .
And , of course , it does n’t stop at blood glucose meters . If Apple can vulgarize otherwise hard - to - find medical devices , it has a wad to gain .
From a public health perspective , too , there are many likely welfare . Apple itself mentioned in a patent software for a non - invasive descent glucose meter that the price to society of eccentric 2 diabetes was $ 825bn a yr in the US .
Perhaps the strongest sign of all is that even Tim Cook himself has say that health and medication are very exciting areas … but , as usual , without revealing any specific program .
Pick the low-hanging fruit
The in camera own car has long been viewed as the ultimate consumer condition symbol , for its monetary value and aspirational quality . Not to mention its surprising emotional resonance : most of us think our first car . But the market is difficult to navigate , complicated and take exception from a technical , political and environmental linear perspective .
practice of medicine as a consumer product is district that has been less thoroughly explored . And there are likely to be good margins for Apple to take reward of , when advanced technology that was previously too expensive for the mainstream securities industry is made usable to more people .
year of speculation about the Apple Car ’s existence or non - existence will not end here . But it is clear to me , when hypothesize about which product will account for Apple ’s growth in the next ten years , that there are better product category to focus on than the almost - impossible car business .
Cars are a glittering prize . But there ’s lower - give ear yield that Apple should be picking – yield that will be a healthier choice for all of us .
unlike Think is a weekly column , published every Tuesday , in which Macworld writers expose their less mainstream opinions to public scrutiny . We’vedefended the pass , argued thatTim Cook is a good CEO than Steve Jobs , and called Apple TV+ adisaster movie without a well-chosen ending . This article originally appear onMacworld Sweden ; interlingual rendition ( usingDeepL ) by David Price .
