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EnTech: Elon Musk hopes Apple will enter car market, says Tesla poaching 5x as many employees as Apple

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Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Elon Musk hopes Apple will enter car market, says Tesla poaching 5x as many employees as Apple

Apple's car team
Apple’s car team
Speculation regarding Apple’s plans to build an electric car has been at an all-time over recent months. Earlier this year, we broke down the team that Apple has assembled to work on its car, several members of which were poached from Tesla. In Tesla’s Q1 2015 earnings call, however, CEO Elon Musk commented on Apple’s alleged electric car plans and the poaching war that has been ongoing between the two companies.

Regarding Apple’s plans to build an electric car, Musk said that he “hopes” Apple will enter the car market and that it will be “great” if it does. Musk made similar comments earlier this year when addressing the reports that Apple had approached Tesla about a potential acquisition. Musk, of course, would not comment about specific talks between the two companies.
Musk also today addressed the ongoing poaching war between Tesla and Apple by essentially saying that there isn’t a war, but if there was, Tesla would be winning it. Musk noted that Tesla has not seen any “significant attrition” of engineers to Apple. Tesla, on the other hand, has recruited “five times as many people” from Apple as Apple has from Tesla.
“I certainly hope Apple gets into the car business. That would be great. But we’re not seeing any significant attrition of engineers to Apple, for anything. Cars or otherwise. Anyone can find this out by going on LinkedIn. If you look at the trailing 12 months, Tesla has recruited something like five times as many people from Apple as Apple has from Tesla.”
A report earlier this year claimed that Apple is planning to launch its own car by 2020. Whether or not that turns out to be true remains to be seen, but nevertheless, Apple now has support from one of the brightest minds in the world for its car initiative.
Poll: Do you think Apple should actually build an electric car?
Poll: Do you think Apple should actually build an electric car?
Tesla to allow iPhone to start Model S without key/fobs with v6.0 update Tesla to allow iPhone to start Model S without key/fobs with v6.0 update

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24 Responses to “Elon Musk hopes Apple will enter car market, says Tesla poaching 5x as many employees as Apple”

  1. rogifan says: So is the argument that Apple can only build an EV by poaching lots of employees from Tesla? Why is Musk and the media so obsessed with this?
    Like
    • Gazoo Bee says: Musk is obviously worried. He knows what Apple can do and he knows that his car is a very niche product that doesn’t actually move the innovation dial very much.
      Liked by 2 people
      • Colby Landwehr says: That is what you honestly believe? To funny…
        Like
      • Gazoo Bee says: @ Colby: Well, if you look into it you will see mountains of evidence to the effect that I am right. On the other hand, if you just want to believe what you read in the tech press, then go ahead.
        Also, that should be “too right,” and not “to right.” One means “additional” and one refers to direction.
        Like
      • o0smoothies0o says: It’s the beginning for Tesla. In the future they’ll be selling affordable electric vehicles and be far ahead of the competition, until Apple releases theirs. Currently batteries cost far too much for them to make it very affordable I think, hence why they’re building the gigafactory.
        Like
      • houstonche says: How did you come away from that clipping with him being worried?
        Like
    • Rich Davis (@RichDavis9) says: The media is obsessed because they want more viewership and writing an article about Apple achieves this.
      I think with the recent loss posted by Tesla, they should be more worried about not running out of money first.
      Like
  2. lkrupp215 says: Elon Musk is starting to sound like Michael Dell. Tesla is THE place to be because they are poaching employees from Apple and Apple is doomed because of it. Right.
    Like
    • houstonche says: Where did Elon musk say that apple is doomed??
      Like
  3. mobileseeks says: So Telsa has poached 5x insignificant number of people from Apple. I think 5x insignificant is pretty insignificant to Apple.
    Like
  4. Gazoo Bee says: Tesla is NOT a “car company” they are a battery company. Worse than that, they are a “battery management software/firmware” company in fact.
    This is the entire extant of their “innovation” in the automotive field.
    I think Apple will literally wipe the floor with Tesla if they ever come out with a car even though I have a very low opinion of what Apple might do in the automotive field.
    Like
    • Bruno Fernandes (@Linkb8) says: I don’t think Apple would have their targets set on Tesla. Wiping the floor with Detroit would be the first step.
      Like
    • Bruno Fernandes (@Linkb8) says: For historical reference for the significance of Tesla, read up on how Henry Ford transformed the automobile industry.
      Like
      • Gazoo Bee says: To even imply for a laugh, that Tesla will have or has had the same kind of impact on car design, automotive history, or (more importantly in the case of Ford) factory design and economic theory than Ford is just insane. Laughably insane.
        Ford’s contributions were so immense he spawned an entire industry as well as terms like “Fordism.” Tesla is a guy who dreamed up the idea that you could put a giant laptop battery in a luxury sedan and rich Californians would buy it for outrageous prices.
        There is nothing innovative about his car. It’s a very typical luxury sedan product similar to every other luxury sedan ever built. Nothing Telsa has done with their cars hasn’t been done by many other electric car companies many times before. The battery itself is literally a giant laptop battery and involves no new chemistry etc. The main innovation is the battery management system and the idea of using a giant laptop battery in the first place.
        Like
    • Bruno Fernandes (@Linkb8) says: I think I hear the sound of a grinding axe…
      Liked by 3 people
    • Ross Bunnell (@RossBunnell) says: You seem very naive, saying that Tesla is not a car company is absurd. If they aren’t a car company how does their car rate 99/100 by consumer reports, tops for any car in all their testing. And yes their car is innovative, can show me another car with comparable refinement and precision? And lets not forget about the 17in screen with the software that runs the car. The technology used on the car is unparalleled and some of the safety features were the first of their kind. Yes, they have much higher aspirations than just building luxury cars, as evidenced by their new PowerWall system. And if you think it was as easy as saying let’s stick a huge lithium-ion battery in a car you are even more naive than I thought. To make that size battery and put it in a car while keeping performance exceptional is an amazing engineering feat. They are revolutionizing the electric car industry (and yes the entire car industry as well) and they shouldn’t fear Apple entering the car market. Tesla is making a product that is so good and extremely popular that they have a better position than Apple does to change the car industry. If they came out with a car more affordable, and I am sure they are working on it, it would shape the market in a way Apple can’t. I have a very low expectation for Apple in the car industry as well, but saying they will wipe the floor with Apple is absurd. Tesla is wiping the floor with every other car brand around and will do so with Apple if they so chose to enter the market.
      Like
  5. Chris Cheshire says: Either way, I would like to see Apple enter the Automotive industry, even just to spur on more car makers to look into renewable energy cars. Having a big gas guzzling V6 or V8 in this day and age seems useless and only lines the pockets of the oil tycoons.
    Like
  6. valanchan says: You guys make it sound so easy; brushing Tesla off as simply adding 1 + 1.
    My observation is that Tesla cars is similar to the early days of the iPod or iPhone but in very slow motion. Amazing idea, not so good reality, and then real live product development starts to happen.
    Like
  7. Rich Davis (@RichDavis9) says: The biggest problem with all electric cars is range and public charging stations. They don’t have enough charging stations for those that want to travel long distances, especially if they want to travel in rural areas. I think the best approach is hybrid for the time being.
    Like
  8. Daniel Swanson says: Lots of clueless comments so far. Tesla and Apple will be majorly symbiotic in their respective automotive efforts. Knee-jerk conclusions that they are in a poaching war are way off base. I see some good potential for Apple acquiring Teslaâ€"at some future point in time which will be advantageous to both.
    Liked by 1 person
  9. Dafty Punk says: I think he’s not afraid of Apple entering the car business because the car business is MASSIVE. There’s plenty of room for both Apple and Tesla. Also if Apple comes out with a electric vehicle it will only help the overall cause of electric cars. Much like there were NFC payments before ApplePay, it took ApplePay to happen for your average consumer to even consider it an option. If Apple makes a car, it pushes the whole EV market ahead. Tesla and Apple wins.
    Like
  10. David Pearce says: Oh, I know I’m Effing old-fashioned, but I’d like to know WHAT Apple’s plans to build an electric car are up to:
    Vis.:”Speculation regarding Apple’s plans to build an electric car has been at an all-time _______ over…..”
    I added the ________________.
    Just what height is the speculation regarding Apple’s plans to build an electric car??
    Thanks for the info….!
    Like
  11. Jim Hassinger says: I think he’s right: it would be good to have other players enter the market for electric cars. Apple would bring a lot, and it would create a larger ecosystem, and add a lot more scale to the market. It makes me think of something Jobs said when asked if they could switch production to the US. He argued they could, that the wages in China aren’t such of big deal: but that the levels of expertise assembled there in one place, the assembled experience in all these plants, the managers, the ability of the plants to scale rapidly, that is what’s making China a very powerful manufacturing center. You know, like we used to be.
    Like
  12. houstonche says: For those knocking tesla for being mentioned in the same article as apple, you should try driving one before you knock it. They are incredible vehicles.
    Like

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