The only domain expertise they had on phones was the itunes phone with motorola. And then they launched the iphone.

Same goes for the ipod.

Only thing they had expertise in was computers. And with computers becoming extremely important for cars, they might just have a chance. Just as much as google, and they don't have any particular domain knowledge either (ie. they have never sold a car before).

Computers aren't that important for cars.

I'll gladly believe that Apple will produce a car with a completely amazing user experience for its center console.

But I'll take a car with a less amazing user experience for its center console if it drives better, gets better mileage, has lower maintenance, costs tens of thousands of dollars less, and looks good on the outside. Apple has no expertise there, and it's a complicated business.

We like to sort of claim Tesla as our own, but it's not a computer company, it's a car company. Maybe Apple can create a car company ex nihilo, but that's a lot less in their wheelhouse than producing a rectangle with a touchscreen on it.

Computers aren't important for cars the same way phone apps weren't important to phones 10 years ago: they were gimmicky, prone to failure, and too locked down to target by developers.

What if you change those facts? It's not too hard to imagine a world where computers could have greater effect on your car driving experience than just simple things like a music player or voice recognition.

>drives better, gets better mileage, has lower maintenance, costs tens of thousands of dollars less, and looks good on the outside

Except these are improved with improved software now...for example battery technology isn't anything without good software, same with maintenance (software is the reason why the F-35 is orders of magnitude cheaper to maintain over the lifecycle)

>We like to sort of claim Tesla as our own, but it's not a computer company

Except it is...

At its heart, Tesla is a software developer dressed in a carmaker's robes. The Silicon Valley company has focused on developing its software to be the primary component behind its fleet's sophisticated safety and battery systems, not to mention its infotainment console[1]

Tesla is closer to being a technology company than a traditional automobile maker.[2]

[1]http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/04/11/is-tesla-mo... [2]https://www.ihs.com/articles/features/tesla-motors.html

Hasn't Tesla shown that it's possible?

Again, we are talking about a company that took in 75 billion last quarter. If a scrappy upstart can get into the industry, I don't doubt Apple could.

Also, this is probably an automated Uber service so you can focus on your Apple devices, not the driving experience.

Certain segment of car owners pays lots of money for comfort, great design and great branding. Apple is certainly strong in those areas.

And who knows ,if it's not good enough in the rest that's needed, it can always cooperate.

Computers aren't important for cars, software is.

And sadly, much as I am invested in the Apple ecosystem, Apple's software QC has gone downhill.

Yosemite and iOS 8 both suffer many glaring, obvious bugs that have been present since the beta/DPs with no sign of fixes.

That leads to recalls and lawsuits with cars.

It's safe to assume that the safety-critical software in any iCar will be held to a much higher standard than OS X or iOS.

Apple has more than enough money to try 50 experiments like this.

And enough money to buy an existing car company and/or joint venture.

Or even just five large-scale projects.

Surely one would be a TV. Smart TVs right now are woeful, and just providing a weak set-top box on the side might provide something at an accessible price point, but it doesn't solve the real problem.

An ideal smart TV would pre-fetch EPGs to load and switch quickly, have an optional social layer over the video feed (like what Xbox One proposed), and more naturally fit in with other hardware and ways of getting media to the screen.

And not, you know, have always-on voice recognition and a camera and stuff. Or advertising.

Apple's domain expertise is design, supply chain management, and managing third party construction and assembly.

Of course at one point they had no domain expertise with phones...

They're really good at rectangular screens!