Apple still reputedly planning to build an iCar.

The apparent secret sauce:
They watched the livestream of Tesla’s battery day;
They also took notes;
Then those notes were exclusively leaked to Reuters.

So they could hire, hoping to begin production by

[checks notes]

2025.
fwiw
In 2011 I placed a number of 10 to 1 bets with friends that Apple would have an iCar in-market before April of ’21.

Going to lose.

But it always seemed like the right play for them, and I’m convinced that if Jobs hadn’t passed they would have made that bet (and made mine)
At the time (2011) people were arguing that Apple would vertically integrate through TV manufacture (which I always thought was inane).

There was (and still is!) so much transformation-potential in automotive, but they waited too long; Tesla is tearing through their green space.
Here’s the Reuters piece

reuters.com/article/us-app…
That Apple didn’t make a compelling bid for Tesla (as it skated across its balance sheet amidst Model 3’s production hell) is curious to me.

Similar brand-affinity-profiles, and the soothing promise of Apple’s operational excellence would have easily assuaged Wall Street.
It is hard to imagine @elonmusk under somebody else’s umbrella however, and so there may not have been a workable bid available.

(And in that counterfactual history it is hard to imagine Tim Cook & Co letting Tesla proceed with the CyberTruck.)

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Brett Winton

Brett Winton Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @wintonARK

21 Dec
that competitor you thought you didn't need to worry about due to your unimpeachable network-effect-derived moat
yes they are digital businesses--in an increasingly digital world--but this serves as a reminder: most payments are hyper-hyper-local.

you exchange resources daily with the people that you see daily.
Interesting (to me):
Compared to other canonical network effect failures, Venmo isn't obviously mis-executing to allow @CashApp to chase it down.

MySpace caught Friendster due to Friendster's infrastructure failures.

Then MySpace sold and overmonetized opening the door to FB.
Read 6 tweets
20 Dec
Balance sheet management probably evolves into immediate conversion of all foreign-denominated profits into Bitcoin

Thinking about companies that accrue huge cash balances off-shore and keep them inaccessible to avoid punitive US tax

(And all attendant inefficiencies and costs)
You liability match against all local costs and then shift everything else into the currency without a country.

Eliminates all kinds of exotic hedging, bond market operations and legal shells that are otherwise required to balance sheet optimize against a global footprint
(This new world is not great for the investment banks or a whole coven of associated legal purveyors of structuring and advice, so expect this transition to be accompanied by all manner of carping cacophony)
Read 4 tweets
18 Dec
On the 12th day of Christmas
innovation gave to me

12 CRISPRs cutting Image
Read 12 tweets
18 Dec
On the 11th day of Christmas
innovation gave to me

11 teraOps Image
Novel living drugs

nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…
Read 11 tweets
13 Mar
Same cities, searching for "shortness of breath", normalized to the same scale and zeroed to the 2019 average.

Starting with the Big Apple

h/t: @DoctorChaosPhD
LA seems a little behind
Just getting into Houston(?)
Read 21 tweets
12 Mar
top ~20 cities in the US, starting with NYC

let's see who's wondering about a cough...
LA seems to still be incubating
Chicago, any reported cases? Because people are searching
Read 21 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!