There are new reports about the potential of Apple making a car, the Apple Car or iCar. There are many reasons why Apple wants to make car. If we look into all the devices Apple has on the market and if the Apple Car would integrate with the devices, it could change the way the world travels and communicates.
Bernstein analysts Toni Sacconaghi and Max Warburton wrote a report “5 Reasons Why We Believe Apple May Indeed Be Looking to Build a Car.”
Besides the reasons Apple would want to develop a car, the Bernstein report also points out that Apple Cars won’t be available for five to seven years. Driving the ability to make completely new car models is the fact that Apple has $188 billion dollars in cash reserves.
The five reasons suggested include:
- A new market worth $1 trillion in sales.
- Apple is not afraid of an established market such as cars or phones in 2007.
- Tesla accomplished a lot with almost no money therefore Apple with deep pockets could do a lot.
- Although automakers profits are not huge, people pay a higher premium for Apple products.
- Significant car manufacturing capacity is likely to develop in China, where Apple has strong ties.
Bernstein predicts the Apple Car is likely to be purely electric. Apple is clearly behind in developing batteries for automobiles and would likely look to obtain the technology from elsewhere. The analysts are not fully convinced that Apple is making a car however there a five big reasons the company could pull off making an “iPhone” style car.
Beside the latest reasons stated by the analysts, there have been reports that Apple has been hiring experts from BMW, Tesla and battery companies. The Apple Car is reportedly named Project Titan.Space has been rented near Apple’s Cupertino, California headquarters.
Recently, job site Freelancer offered contest to design what the Apple car might look like. The winner Aristomenis Tsirbas designed a car that really does look like an iPhone. The car has external high-resolution LED screens on the front and back for user-selected headlight/taillight design.
With an Apple car, iPhone owners can be sure that their car would have CarPlay and work with iPhones or Apple Watches. Some reports speculate that since Apple was able to enter the watch market, it opens up the automotive uses for smart watches.
There is a BMW remote start app for the Apple Watch. Once people have the watch, then they have a device that can start their Apple iCar. The watch could vibrate to warn of collisions or lane departure.
If Apple were to control the car, the iPhone and Apple Watch, then they could control the app market for in-car apps too. Image as the car drives by an iBeacon the car screens show what’s on sale at Target and give the driver an incentive for driving to Target as well as coupon on the iPhone. The purchase can be paid by Apple Pay.
To charge the Apple Car EV, drivers will pay with Apple Pay and see their iTunes videos on the screen of the charger station and the outside of the car. When a guy sees a girl he’s interest in the new emojis will show on the car and wink at her, while sending an iBeacon message as well as little sweet heart emojis on the watch. In fact by then between the Apple Watches, Apple Cars and iPhones, no one will ever have to speak to another human being again.