There has been a lot of speculation about an Apple car. The expectations are very high. If Apple were to build a car, it would go through a very rigorous process, as Apple does with everything it does, in order to come up with a truly disruptive new car. Apple team will ask a thousand questions and I picked the top 10 that I feel will lead to some potentially disruptive answers. These questions indicate the type of thinking it will take Apple to come up with a car that would deserve the Apple logo on its front grill. That is, if it will even have a front grill. Here are the top 10 questions Apple will ask while designing an Apple Car.
- Why does a car have to have 4 wheels?
- Why does a car have to have those weird looking mirrors sticking out of the side of the car?
- Does the car need to have a actual physical rear-view mirror
- Should we manufacturer the car ourselves or have a manufacturing partner? May be have a manufacurugn partner the first 10 years.
- Is Apple car an actual car or is it just the technology that enables the cars?Powered by Apple sort of thing.
- What is/are our target market(s); for the first version, subsequent models?
- What should be the price point or points?
- Why do cars need to have oil change and tune-ups? If so, why so often? Why the current process?
- What is the longest battery life that we can get knowing what we know about batteries?
- What are the additional new areas of innovation once we introduce our new Apple car?
Many thoughts and answers will come out of the exercise above. I would like to elaborate on one thought, and that thought begs to ask the question; “what car models will Apple Car have?” This is a very interesting question because I believe this is one of those questions where Steve Jobs’ “living at the intersection of Technology and Humanities” will come in very handy.
- Single seater: Statistics show that 90% of the cars on the road have one driver. That’s a lot of waste of space, fuel, energy, and car.
- Two seater: This is the next logical step up. Have you seen the two seater Smart Car?
- Four seater: This model might be for the next generation Uber drivers or driver’less Uber Cars.
- Sports Car: This model will be sold for $Bazzillion bought by the Johnny Ives of the world and will fund the research and development for the next 20 years of Apple Cars.
- SUV: Affluent soccer moms gotta look cool in a very elegant high end Apple SUV.
- Apple Van: Will Apple come up with a concept that will be used entirely for public transportation like ride share, Uber, Taxi? Perhaps a Partridge Family bus? Very 70’s psychedelic and very hip.
The next couple years will be fun to watch Apple and the car industry.
Interested to read more about Apple Car?
- 6 Considerations Apple Would Make to Build an Apple Car
- Top 12 Key feature categories of an Apple Car