Posted on 02/14/2015 4:07:50 AM PST by shove_it
The smoke surrounding rumors of an Apple-branded vehicle has begun to thicken, as a new report says that Apple is indeed working on an all-electric vehicle that would take the shape of a minivan, with a huge team tasked to the project.
Apple has given the project codename "Titan," according to the Wall Street Journal. The company is said to have "several hundred" employees working in the group.
Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly green-lighted the project almost a year ago, and company executives have already begun to meet with potential contract manufacturers, including Canadian firm Magna Steyr. Apple iPod and iPhone designer Steve Zadesky, formerly of Ford, is said to be running the project.
The team — which has its own development facility away from the main Infinite Loop campus — could eventually swell to some 1,000 employees, and Zadesky has been given free reign to pull talent from any existing Apple group. Zadesky's group is reportedly researching "robotics, metals and materials consistent with automobile manufacturing."
The Journal's report follows hours after a similar missive from the Financial Times, which revealed a "top-secret research lab" staffed with automotive executives. Among those who have made the move is former Mercedes-Benz R&D head Johann Jungwirth, who joined Apple as a Mac systems engineering leader last fall.
Apple design chief Jony Ive is believed to have been personally recruiting automotive executives. Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed earlier that Apple has tried "very hard" to poach engineers from the electric carmaker, offering $250,000 bonuses and 60 percent pay raises.
Rumors of an Apple-branded vehicle have been around for years, but began to gather steam when Apple was revealed as the company behind a fleet of mysterious sensor-laden vans which have appeared around the U.S. in recent months. Those vans, which are almost certainly designed for data collection to augment Apple's mapping service, are unlikely to be directly related to any potential vehicle project, which is likely years away from production.
You said, “If you follow the FR “boycott” instructions, you’d have to become Amish.”
AND ... it’s only accomplished “online” by some electronic pseudonym ... who does not exist in real life and not by someone who has a real name and lives in the real world!
You may want to stop the attacks on Apple, if you were to study the actions of many other "American" companies. Look at Ford for instance. Quite a few overseas plants and production. They hoard a lot of overseas profits, why aren't you complaining about them? In 2000 Ford's cash hoard was the largest of any company in the world ($24 billion). So how many American cars and parts are totally made here in the U.S.A.? The problem for many American companies, including Apple, is our own government. At least Apple is building here and employing people here in the U.S.A., versus most other technology companies.
All of that is assuming an equal playing ground of the SAME MANUFACTURING ENVIRONMENT, Central_va. Now, try moving all of that manufacturing environment lock-stock-and-barrel over here, and compare manufacturing costs. You'd be adding several hundred dollars per unit, guaranteed. These comparisons are talking solely about ASSEMBLY costs. . . not the costs inherent in all the manufacturing of all the parts that go into a phone. There are hundreds of components in a typical cellular phone. They are NOT all manufactured at one plant but are manufactured, milled, smelted, forged, rolled, printed, etc. at multiple plants from multiple locations. Many of them are located around the assembly plant, but others do come from as far away as Corning glass in the United States. . . or chip foundries in Korea and the US. However all of these have to come together in a complicated dance of "Just In Time Inventory Control", a technique while not developed by Apple, it was perfected by Apple for its manufacturing systems under Tim Cook's guidance as Chief Operating Officer back in the early 2000s. The infrastructure for all of this exists where it now is. . . not here in the US. It would all have to be re-created.
The things you are quoting are GUESSTIMATES by people who do not MANUFACTURE PHONES. . . they assemble a list of components they find after doing a tear down and then guess what the rest of the costs might be. It is not accurate at all. "Unfortunately we can’t be sure of the exact cost." Take that sentence to the bank.
Apple PAID for much of the assembly lines at the FoxConn lines that assemble Apple products. They were designed to Apple's specifications. To rebuild them here would require re-amortization of what is now already paid for.
Let's assume for the moment that the $30 per unit labor cost is anywhere near correct. . . and we move assembly to the United States, and assume all things also are equal, except factory wages, then wages plus benefits are FIVE to TEN TIMES higher. That adds $120 to $270 to the cost of each iPhone or iPad. Add markup, and the product becomes economically unsaleable. It would be Completely non-competitive. Apple would have to price it so high it could not compete.
OR, you simply wipe out the profit on each item to pay for the labor.
No, Central, it is not a viable choice in today's economic environment.
How much plywood does this electric vehicle haul?
It is basically run on electric motors. It is actually a "Diesel Electric Locomotive" in which the Diesel generates electricity which powers electric motors to drive the wheels. Perhaps Apple is designing an automobile which will be a hybrid that is far more efficient than any ever designed.
That is the way Apple disrupts industries. They look what has been done before and do it far better.
Here’s an older article that attempts to put a number to this ...
If Apple Brought iPhone Manufacturing To The US It Would Cost Them $4.2 billion
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/09/25/if-apple-brought-iphone-manufacturing-to-the-us-it-would-cost-them-4-2-billion/
Try to be informed of Apple's policies before you post uninformed comments that are false to fact.
Apple's Tim Cook warns of "dire consequences" of sacrificing privacy for security"
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me you don't have it propped up on your steering wheel! LOL! I know you aren't stupid like that. . . are you?
I only post to Free Reoublic at red lights ... LOL ...
BUT ... no, in that instance, I had just pulled into the library parking lot and was doing some quick work out in the car. I don’t text and drive ... I focus on driving when the car is moving ... :-) ...
Show me how those construction workers would have jobs if Apple would NOT be building. This is a recession. Nobody is building. They would be idle if it were not for Apple building. While they are working, they are full time jobs. Apple has construction plans for the foreseeable future.
You are obviously misinformed. Not only does Apple support American workers but they are the largest taxpayer in the United States.
The Space Shuttle was not 100% American made. Neither was the moon rocket. Try to know what you are talking about. It is impossible for a computer to be 100% American made. Many of the minerals included in a modern computer do not even exist in this country.
Just saying.
We wouldn’t be in a recession right now, if American companies still made stuff right here in America.
Like McDonald's, the ONE TIME Hamburger King, who suddenly became everything to everyone, selling salads, etc they directly diminished their Brand's position.
I predict the same will happen to Apple because building an electric car is a totally different reality as opposed to installing your operating system on the Samsung produced electronic equipment they sell as Apple iPhones, iPads, etc..
This is nothing more than MY OPINION, but something tells me the stage is setting itself for this scenario and a massive loss of money..
You don't know anything about what you are blithering about. YOU go and found a computer company or cell phone company that makes its products in the US and make a profit then come back and tell us how well you are doing. Then we will listen to you. Until then, you don't know what you are saying.
Apple dividends paid this week were 47¢ a share.
These overseas profits were made by overseas operations and taxed in the locales in which they were earned. The money isn't repatriated because of the U.S.'s screwy tax laws - pretty much unique - that insists on taxing this income a second time.
But a history of your posts also shows that I'm probably wasting my time pointing out economic facts to you. Anthing more complex than a vague "American jobs!" seems beyond you.
In that you are wrong. China is communist in name only. What it is not is democratically elected government. IT is a dictatorship that calls itself communist, but strangely operates with a Capitalist structure. The factories that Apple uses are privately owned by HonHai Precision Industries from Taiwan. As are many others in China. . . The workers are not government drones but people who choose to work at the factories. They are not assigned to work there by the government.
China has changed immensely since the 1950s-1980s model of everything owned by the government and the five-year plans of Chairman Mao. Perhaps it would be better to say it is socialist in some structures and Capitalist in others. Could they nationalize these plants tomorrow. YOU BET THEY COULD. Would they? I doubt it. They are aiming for economic domination. The leaders saw the mistakes the USSR made and they found themselves dependent on the industrial production of Mother Russia. . . and did not like it at all. It made them a satrap of the USSR. It won't happen again. Nor will they let go of power. Perhaps they are Communist leaning toward Fascism. But communist? Not by a long shot. Not anymore.
I am for American companies standing up for Americans once again.
Nobody else seems to be, in either political party.
I am trying to talk about what I believe will someday become very important to American voters, now while it is still possible for Republicans to drive this agenda.
However at the moment I would say democrats appear more likely to drive this issue, which will be (very) unfortunate for all Americans, in my humble opinion.
Yes it is a subject I believe in. Yes it is a subject which most everyone else is all in favor of selling out our very own nation, on.
Just saying.
To be fair, the project is named "Titan", not the car. But whatever they do call it, I'm sure it will be very, very cute.
Apple is bringing wha jobs they can back. They tried to make the Sapphire screens here but the company who claimed they could do it flopped. They only got 10% yield of their boules. That was not sufficient. Apple is making their flagship MacPro and iMacs here.
How do you think it GOT big? It was not big when they were forced by competition to take their manufacturing to Taiwan. What they did NOT do was going the lemming race to the bottom of the barrel by cutting prices in discount hardware. They insisted on always keeping quality high and concentrating on customer service and customer delight in their products.
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