Analyst: Apple may be late or even miss the automotive feast

Apple Inc. (AAPL) recently acquired a number of car-related domain names, and Tesla Inc. (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk called it an "open secret" that the tech giant is determined to produce and sell cars. FBR Capital Markets analyst Daniel Ives said that although Apple's acquisition of domain names such as apple.car, apple.cars and apple.auto shows the company's ambition to produce cars, some analysts believe that Apple may be "too late."

“If you wanted to enter the auto industry in 2016 and the only innovation you could come up with was autonomous driving or maybe electric vehicle technology, you were going to fail from the start,” said Trip Chowdhry, managing director of Global Equities Research.

Chaudhry believes that given Tesla's (TSLA) leading position in the electric vehicle industry and the fact that Musk's Tesla and traditional automakers such as Ford, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota are already developing autonomous driving technology, Apple will be at a disadvantage when entering this market unless the company can come up with revolutionary transportation innovations.

Mr. Chaudhry said that meant Apple needed to develop something beyond the self-driving and charging capabilities currently on the market, perhaps a unique product similar to the single-person self-driving drone prototype of China's Ehang.

"You don't just produce cars. It's the people with vision who win the race," he said.

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world's largest consumer technology conference, the total area of ​​the smart car technology exhibition hall reached a record 250,000 square feet (23,225.76 square meters), and exhibitors showed off some of the evolving autonomous driving technologies. BMW launched a gesture-controlled dashboard and mirrorless car, Corning (GLW) showed a tablet-like smart windshield, Mercedes-Benz launched a spacious sedan, and Ford also showed a lidar system.

Meanwhile, Apple, which has skipped CES for the 24th year in a row, has not publicly acknowledged Project Titan, its secret car project, but evidence of it includes the hiring of some auto industry executives, recent discussions about car testing facilities, and a Guardian report that the California Department of Motor Vehicles will review "self-driving car rules."

FBR's Eves, who estimates that Apple will have 2,000 employees working on Project Titan by the end of 2016, said the domain acquisition "reaffirms" that Apple has made the project an internal priority.

Ives agrees that Apple may be late to the automotive party, but his view is more optimistic than Chaudhry. Despite some recent twists and turns, especially the expectation of iPhone production cuts, which has caused Apple's stock price to fall 11% in the past three months, Ives believes that Apple is still "the golden sign of the consumer goods industry", which will help the company as it enters new areas such as wearable devices.

Tesla's electric car self-driving technology has become a new force in the field of self-driving cars. Tesla CEO Musk told the BBC this week that Apple's electric cars are beneficial to market competition. Eves said that Tesla is closely watching Apple's every move because if Apple enters the electric car market, "it will not only bring direct competition, but also immediately become a potential disruptor."

Apple's $200 billion in cash is also a huge advantage, helping the company to quickly advance projects. Ives likened Apple's huge cash to an "infinite resource" that can acquire the necessary technology to enter cutting-edge markets.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.