Mobile as in Automobile

Apple’s got $70 billion in cash - enough to buy any phone company they please. Of course, they’re not going to do that. The likely goal of Apple amassing such cash is to build a cash buffer that can withstand a revenue collapse, a new Great Depression and a nuclear firestorm all at the same time. Maybe Apple has another option, though. (Disclaimer below if you’ve already concluded I’m full of it.)

There are only two major consumer technology areas that Apple hasn’t gotten in on: TV’s, and vehicles. TV’s are too simple and commoditized for Apple to have much success: any TV on the market that is any good can be controlled with five universally-recognized buttons on the remote control. There’s nothing to learn and little room for Apple to innovate. Their skill is with interfaces, but TV’s are very basic.

Cars are a whole different story. Yes, they’re easy enough to control for the average person, but there is so much more to the driving experience than a functioning steering wheel, as there is much more to a software OS than how many apps it has.

Of course, there are traditionally lots of reasons why a tech company is a bad fit for the automotive world: technology doesn’t move fast enough to create massive hits, too much conventional thinking, et cetera. However, the game is changing with the advent of the electric vehicle. We have with the Chevy Volt a car that requires no trips to the gas station, but only in the right circumstances, and comes with tradeoffs in performance and handling and all those areas.

Imagine the first Apple vehicle having the performance and specs of a Volt, but with Apple design applied to it - a glass dashboard with simple, clear indicators that hide away when not providing useful information¹, controls and levers with solid mechanical performance made from some kind of finely-machined metal, exhaust pipes hidden away, simple circular brake lights with hidden turn signal indicators… I could go on. I have the car of the future in my head - many times I’ve wished I had gone to industrial design school. I’m only 21, I suppose I still could… but I digress.

This first car wouldn’t be all that different spec-wise from what GM has managed, but imagine what could happen next:

• Second keynote: “We’ve boosted battery capacity, improved performance and reduced weight! Then we added a heads-up display for everything - no more dashboard!”
• Third keynote: “We’ve added a FaceTime camera so you can video-chat with your family on the road using our HUD. We’ve also put in an advanced hydrophobic windshield that works great for night driving.”
• Fourth keynote: “Brand new extremely small but even more potent A8 engine that provides much more battery space, doubling the range!”

Apple not only knows how to design an amazing interface, but they also know not what customers want, but the things that customers don’t know they want yet. They’re inventive and iterative - they know what real improvements are in a product and will devote all their energy to them.

Where does the cash come in? Making mass-market automobiles is an extremely high-investment business. Apple is sitting on an enormous amount of cash. They’ll have enough to match the enterprise value of BMW with only 20 more billion. They could certainly find the talent and infrastructure with that cash if they wanted to.

Here’s the disclaimer: I don’t see it as likely they’ll pursue this route, given the enormous risks, and even if they could I’m not certain they could make the year-over-year iterative leaps in automotive design that they achieve in electronics design. That said, I see an amazing vehicle in my dreams that only Apple could build, and if they have the courage to try for it, I believe world-changing things could happen.