Citroën lines
Car
industry is very old. The brands we see nowadays are the result of more
than a century of research and development, of improvements of their engines and
their production lines.
They cross periods, including war, many political changes and massive technological innovations.
Citroën lines producing shells
The key word of the industry is know how. And know how rimes with experience.
They cross periods, including war, many political changes and massive technological innovations.
Citroën lines producing shells
The key word of the industry is know how. And know how rimes with experience.
That’s why
the idea of a computer company, created in 1960, wanting enter in the market is
completely crazy.
But
strangely,
the biggest actors of the industry are taking those rumors very
seriously. The reason could be this new “challenger” is not a tiny one:
Apple, the 700 billion dollars high-tech company.
In fact, Apple
gathered, and are still hiring some specialists for its new project: Titan Project.
Thus Apple
recruited many talents on the car industry. We can name Doug Betts, a big one
that used to be the quality leader for Chrysler-Fiat. Jamie Carlson, a high engineer
from Tesla, specialist on the autonomous car technology. Hal Ockerse, engineering
leader at Tesla, specialist on driver system assistance (such cameras and
radars).
There are many other famous names in the car industry than have been recently recruited by Apple but those ones are the proof that Apple is interesting in a technology that drives the car automatically or helps, in a significant way, the driver.
There are many other famous names in the car industry than have been recently recruited by Apple but those ones are the proof that Apple is interesting in a technology that drives the car automatically or helps, in a significant way, the driver.
Some other rumors say Apple approached BMW and precisely their model i3 to have “a base”
for their own prototype.
Here we are talking about an autonomous fully
electric car.
So by those
recruitments, there is no doubt about the existence of the Titan Project. And
for a company as big as Apple, it’s very difficult to keep secrets…
But the
question is: Is this a crazy idea?
For example, a company producing hygiene products will certainly struggle to sell food products.
People would feel disgusted if they discover their favorite food maker is a specialist of dishhashing liquid. A good example of the situation where a company went in a complete different market than its original one is Bic. They tried to sell perfume but it was a huge fail.
However there are some brands that can apparently afford this kind of “nonsense”. Some brands that are so powerful, so credible in the eyes of the world that they can do almost whatever they want :Apple.
Does the Apple image is strong enough to convince people to buy their potential car?
Of course, it's too early to answer this question, but let's take a look about Tesla Motors' company.
As we said before, car industry is a complex market. You can’t enter this market just because you have a nice idea or you are motivated. The investment required are tremendous and it could sound very bold for a new company to sell cars to people that used to buy cars on the trust they have toward companies.
Of course, it's too early to answer this question, but let's take a look about Tesla Motors' company.
As we said before, car industry is a complex market. You can’t enter this market just because you have a nice idea or you are motivated. The investment required are tremendous and it could sound very bold for a new company to sell cars to people that used to buy cars on the trust they have toward companies.
There is no chance for a new company on such
market. That’s what every actors were thinking when Tesla tried to penetrate it, with a very tough beginning.
But Tesla did it. And there are doing pretty well. The reality is Tesla has taken a wonderful opportunity: electric cars. It is a completely different kind of manufacturing processes. The engine, one of the main arguments for a brand, is totally different to produce.
When the industry was a bit shy about electric cars, they showed up and took the place as "The specialist" of electric cars. That was the Ace of Spades of Tesla and they succeed to take a strong position on the very juicy but inaccessible market of cars.
But Tesla did it. And there are doing pretty well. The reality is Tesla has taken a wonderful opportunity: electric cars. It is a completely different kind of manufacturing processes. The engine, one of the main arguments for a brand, is totally different to produce.
When the industry was a bit shy about electric cars, they showed up and took the place as "The specialist" of electric cars. That was the Ace of Spades of Tesla and they succeed to take a strong position on the very juicy but inaccessible market of cars.
It’s certainly that kind of turn Apple wants to take. Car industry is currently taking another turn: Operating system technology. In another word, high quality software in cars.
- This high
level of technology could integrate a massive voice control system where you can control navigation, calls, music, messages, e-mail and so on... But also finger print recognition and connected number plate.
Apple CarPlay Demo
What is interesting
is, by the new technological approach, Apple will seduce different kind of
customers: the ones very sensitive to technology.
First of all, they would attract people using already Apple products. We can trust Apple to extend their eco-system and make their devices fully compatible to the car. So those customers would be the ones using an iPhone, the ones loving the Apple brand and its image, and the ones that want simplicity.
With such a car, Apple will seduce also young generation, the 2.0 one, very comfortable with software and used to be "connected". When an old man will be interested in buying and old car from its childhood, we can guess a 30 years old man would look for something sophisticated.
First of all, they would attract people using already Apple products. We can trust Apple to extend their eco-system and make their devices fully compatible to the car. So those customers would be the ones using an iPhone, the ones loving the Apple brand and its image, and the ones that want simplicity.
With such a car, Apple will seduce also young generation, the 2.0 one, very comfortable with software and used to be "connected". When an old man will be interested in buying and old car from its childhood, we can guess a 30 years old man would look for something sophisticated.
Today, Apple is already commersiasing its personal operating system, CarPlay, to many companies :
It's obvious car industry is taking a turn. For an high-tech company such
Apple, car industry is still archaic, and they can't wait to bring their own
technology on it, and certainly take the opportunity to build a comfortable sit
on this huge industry. The brand image of Apple is strong enough to reassure
consumers and they proved many times in the past they can adapt themselves to
new market. But a question remains essential, as a product as safe as the car,
will the "high-tech argument" be sufficient enough to convince people
to look after an Apple car?
Medhi Melliti-Steiner
Additional sources : http://www.macg.co/tags/projet-titan
www.macrumors.com/
www.9to5mac.com/
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