Apple as a worthy competitor or benevolent acquirer?

[Antares Nebula]

Made a poll to gauge the opinion of the TMC community in light of the on and off Apple discussions.

Want to emphasize that the choice of competitor above is qualified by being "worthy" and not simply a second rate competitor. Not saying that either Apple or Tesla will win, but that Apple will at least give Tesla a run for its money, as opposed to the compliance EVs by legacy OEMs. And like Tesla, Apple would compete effectively on all three fronts: EV powertrain, autonomy, and carOS. They would at least design the cars and maybe even manufacture them if not license to a 3rd party manufacturer. We don't need to get into further details, as the term "worthy competitor" is sufficient to get the point across.

I made the poll to be viewed only after voting (to be more honest IMO). But if you folks feel results should be viewed before voting, let me know below. If enough people feel this way, I will change it (if I am still able to).

You can change your mind after you vote. Your individual votes are not displayed publicly.

If you have any other thoughts or feedback, please comment below. Thanks!

 

[KarenRei]

Third option: irrelevant bystander.

 

[jeewee3000]

Lol I was the first voter so I guess 100% of TMC users chose "Worthy Competitor".

In all seriousness, I just wouldn't want Apple to acquire Tesla since it would ruin Tesla's vision and mission. Elon would for the same reason try and prevent this from happening.

Therefore I chose Worthy Competitor, even though I am quite sure Apple cannot compete with Tesla in a meaningful way without joining forces with OEM's.

 

[Antares Nebula]

Third option: irrelevant bystander.

Yes, I agree. As I've previously stated I would prefer neither. But our desires and reality don't always match. If Apple is intent on entering the market (which it seems to be, though we don't know for sure), which outcome would you, as a Tesla investor, prefer?

 

[KarenRei]

Yes, I agree. As I've previously stated I would prefer neither. But our desires and reality don't always match. If Apple is intent on entering the market (which it seems to be, though we don't know for sure), which outcome would you, as a Tesla investor, prefer?

I disagree with the premise. Apple has neen sticking its toes in the water, but I don't see a huge commitment. They seem to be backing off Project Titan at least.

 

[LN1_Casey]

I'd prefer competition to acquisition. I am an apple product person (iphone, Macbook, Timecapsul, AppleTV), and I love their connectivity--having my car also enter into the Apple product pool seamlessly is much more appealing than imagining how Apple would corrupt Tesla.

 

[Antares Nebula]

I disagree with the premise. Apple has neen sticking its toes in the water, but I don't see a huge commitment. They seem to be backing off Project Titan at least.

Honestly, I don't think we can determine that from the publicly available info, which I've been following closely. See the link below for a summary. Apple is very secretive. At the least, I think the issue is worth considering hypothetically even if you don't think the premise is true currently. But each to his own. Don't wanna force anyone to vote.

Apple Car: It's no secret, Apple's actively working on Car tech

 

[elasalle]

Once Tesla/SpaceX has StarLink. Will Tesla make smartPhones?

The likes of Softbank should buy/invest in Tesla ... cheers!!

 

[TheTalkingMule]

To me the automotive portion of Tesla is almost done. It should be sold off any time after the Model Y is ramped and both the truck and semi are out in the marketplace. Sell automotive for $100B and keep the battery production for Tesla Energy.

Laying AAPL's money and product development on top of Tesla's tech and efficiency would create some cool stuff. Customizable car/truck/SUV skateboards, etc.

At some point we need to move on an focus on Energy.

 

[dc_h]

I think Apple is on a different track. Building a user interface and in theory self driving capability. The self driving seems more like a feasibility study, but they are not working the problem like their life depends on it, so they won't put the effort in like Waymo and Tesla. I would not mind Apple making a 5 billion investment in Tesla, rather than letting their cash sit in the bank, but I see no value add for Tesla with Apple as a partner. Maybe back in 2015 they could have funded more plants faster. At this point, Tesla is probably getting to a point where they could start 2 concurrent factories in 2021 while expanding Fremont & GF1 & GF3. Apple would just want to turn Tesla into a Foxcon producer, which would gut their engineering advantage.

 

[Tslynk67]

I'm OK with acquisition, but only at >$1000 per share and with Elon CEO of the whole thing - Tim Apple can go back to logistics, he's good at that.

Actually would prefer to see an Apple stake in Tesla, say 25% and Tim on the board, this would be excellent.

 

[StealthP3D]

Third option: irrelevant bystander.

Yes, I bet there are hoards of people who can't vote in this poll without that third, most realistic option.

This poll is like the question:

If you had to choose, would you rather see a $10 hooker as a worthy lifelong companion or a benevolent friend?

 

[brianman]

I wish this topic wasn't revived yearly with a new thread instead of just reusing the old threads that I already ignore.

 

[KenC]

One, it's not in Apple's nature to spend alot on acquiring companies. The most they've spent was on Beats and that was $3B. The next most might be only $1B, and typically not for retail products but for supply chain and chip engineering.

Two, the people at Apple who one would think might be interested in competing in the same segments as Tesla are Jony Ive and Eddy Cue. Jony drives a couple Astons and obviously is a design guy, but he's been in the process of leaving Apple for several years now, so he's not the person pushing Apple to compete with Tesla. He's handed in his pink slip back in June and is supposed to leave any day now. And Eddy Cue is on the board at Ferrari. But, you'd think Eddy would resign his position at Ferrari if he were pushing Apple to make a vehicle to compete with Tesla, and ultimately Ferrari.

Three, that really only leaves Tim Cook in the C-suite who might be pushing this project and he hardly seems to be the car aficionado that Jony, Eddy and Steve Jobs were. He has more of an environmental, good for planet earth bent, and Apple has a need for efficient people movers to bring staff in from SF to Cupertino, so they're probably looking at this as an urban commuter autonomy solution. Solve an internal problem, and solve one for urban commuters too.

Didn't Steve say that they like to make things that solve problems that they face, and that's why they came up with the iPhone, because they hated their phones and the cellphone companies?

 

[Antares Nebula]

Please take the new (updated) poll (thank you!):

Edited: Apple as a worthy competitor, benevolent partner, or benevolent acquirer?

This Poll Has Been Updated

Made a poll to gauge the opinion of the TMC community in light of the on and off Apple discussions. This poll is updated to add a third choice: benevolent partner. The first poll was too polarizing. The third choice offers a middle ground, while still being realistic.

Many folks have expressed the desire for a "none of the above" option. I agree that this would be the ideal choice for Tesla investors (myself included). But then there would be no point of conducting the poll, as everyone (myself included) would choose that option. The purpose of the poll is to ascertain what investors would prefer if Apple indeed chooses to enter the EV (and autonomous/smartcar) market. If you wholeheartedly don't believe that Apple will enter the market, then you can either not vote or perhaps you can consider it as a total hypothetical. Below is a link that summarizes publicly available reports on Apple's activities in the EV/smartcar market.

Apple Car: It's no secret, Apple's actively working on Car tech

I want to emphasize that the choice of competitor above is qualified by being "worthy" and not simply a second rate competitor. Not saying that either Apple or Tesla will win, but that Apple will at least give Tesla a run for its money, as opposed to the compliance EVs by legacy OEMs. And like Tesla, Apple would compete effectively on all three fronts: EV powertrain, autonomy, and carOS. They would at least design the cars and maybe even manufacture them if not license to a 3rd party manufacturer. We don't need to get into further details, as the term "worthy competitor" is sufficient to get the point across.

I made the poll to be viewed only after voting (to be more honest IMO). But if you folks feel that the results should be viewed before voting, let me know below. If enough people feel this way, I will change it (if I am still able to).

You can change your mind after you vote. Your individual votes are not displayed publicly.

If you have any other thoughts or feedback, please comment below. Thanks!