The art of deception: How Apple attempts to keep its secret projects under wraps

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 57
    pfisher wrote: »
    I've noticed that after 35 years and in the years of Steve's passing, Apple has been showing how to jump the shark. From buying Beats to showing up on Mad Money to cheesy and embarrassing product announcements (iWatch) to putting crap apps on my phone. iWatch app on our phones? We can't delete? Really? And when I restart my phone, the music app defaults to pointing me to iTunes radio, losing where I left off to what music I was listening to? Apple? Are you trying too hard? 

    The company that could let the product sell itself (as Steve J. did so amazingly), it's more like we are being pushed product.

    Apple: let the products speak for themselves. Let people talk about the products to friends. Now I can't (or don't need to?) recommend Apple products. 

    I think the apple watch looks nice - the presentation was good. Tim sold it a little hard but Steve would do that a little from time to time, selling the iAd platform... Now, look at that new MacBook - that's a taste of the old Apple for you!
  • Reply 22 of 57
    customtb wrote: »
    The ?Car

    400

    Look! It operates hands free..!
  • Reply 23 of 57
    paxman wrote: »

    This is what I think, too. Personal car ownership could one day seem ridiculous and antiquated. Why would anyone want their own personal car? The cost and the agro will seem out of proportion to the benefit. As a matter of fact, for many urban dwellers it already does and instead they rent a car whenever one is required. This is obviously more common in cities with good public transport such as London. The cost of car ownership is high and most of the time the thing sits idle. To be able to summon a car from one's iPhone would take a lot of stress out of many people's lives. And yes, a reduction in car ownership would obviously reduce the number of cars on the road which would benefit everyone.

    Well, if that's the direction things are headed, I'm gonna learn to speak the native language of the navigation system — Paki
  • Reply 24 of 57
    boredumbboredumb Posts: 1,418member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Macky the Macky View Post

     







    Look! It operates hands free..!

    Don't be so annelidical...

  • Reply 25 of 57
    mella wrote: »

    Does anyone remember iTunes on Moto Razr pre Apple iPhone?? It's like Déjà vu! 

    What a disaster that was. A great example of what the iPhone looked like when spec-driven by the carrier. The horrible ads, which likely are on YouTube, are also representative of what an Apple product would look like done by someone else...
  • Reply 26 of 57
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    A secret project titled SG5 and now one has yet made a Stargate reference?
  • Reply 27 of 57
    solipsismy wrote: »
    A secret project titled SG5 and now one has yet made a Stargate reference?

    Samsung Galaxy 5? :D
  • Reply 28 of 57
    realisticrealistic Posts: 1,154member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Feynman View Post

     



    The problem with this idea is that a lot of shareholders and analysts would be upset that said product is not actually real since it won't ever ship and it could do more damage to AAPL stock then good. Apple would turn out like Google with lots of abandonware and it would just look bad for their image.




    Analysts don't need to be fed rumors, they make them up all the time already. Anybody basing stock ownership strictly on rumors versus the company's financial information and fundamentals deserves to lose everything.

  • Reply 29 of 57
    Its worth noting that Apple didn't create the hype machine. That was created by the get-rich-quick rumor website industry (of which AI and Engadget are a part of). And fans' appetite for leaks.
  • Reply 30 of 57
    plovellplovell Posts: 824member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by nagromme View Post



    Apple should have a full-scale, year-round, well-staffed and well-funded misinformation department. 

    What makes you think that it doesn't already? And has had for years ?

  • Reply 31 of 57
    ronstark wrote: »
    It seems that Apple is NOT working on a car per se. That is well out of their comfort zone. But they MUST, by nature of their business, be working on SYSTEMS that can be used in an automobile! Think "Apple environment " and you'll begin to figure out systems that can be used to install in a vehicle.

    Well said.
  • Reply 32 of 57
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ronstark View Post



    It seems that Apple is NOT working on a car per se. That is well out of their comfort zone. But they MUST, by nature of their business, be working on SYSTEMS that can be used in an automobile! Think "Apple environment " and you'll begin to figure out systems that can be used to install in a vehicle.

     

     

    I have no idea what Apple is working on, but I don't see why Apple, a company with billions upon billions of dollars in the bank, couldn't be working on a car. There are many car start ups like Tesla, with far fewer resources. Apple certainly has more resources than Google, which also seems to be working on a car. Further, like watches, some of Apple's executives are big car guys. 

     

    I personally think the car market would be a good market for Apple to look at. Profit on a vehicle would likely be about $4000 or more. That is nothing to sneeze at. Most vehicle parts are purchased by the various vehicle companies from independent parts companies. Apple could easily do the same for standardized parts. Apple also understands manufacturing and could easily set up a factory in the US for final assembly. Apple has shown some incredibly abilities when working with many of the materials used in vehicles and pushing the boundaries with these materials. 

     

    Apple understands that most of its eggs are in the phone basket right now, the Apple watch will not significantly add to its earnings. 

     

    With that said, there might be some disadvantages of looking to build a car. It could alienate many of the partners it is trying to implement Carplay with. However, Apple's car plans, if there are car plans, likely are five to ten years from fruition. So, Apple might not care about those partnerships then. 

  • Reply 33 of 57
    nolamacguynolamacguy Posts: 4,758member
    [QUOTE]Apple is known to disseminate bogus information to find out who is leaking it. Since those affairs are handled internally, it's unknown how frequently, or how successful, those efforts are[/QUOTE]

    er, proof?
  • Reply 34 of 57
    nolamacguynolamacguy Posts: 4,758member

    They already do this. ;)

    Gruber and Dalrymple are also, semi-officially, Apple people.

    Nope. Dalrymple leaks his yeps or nopes, but Gruber has never once leaked anything officially. He states very plainly on his blog and podcast that he has some Apple sources that talk to him, but he never knows for sure what is going to happen. Sometimes he's wrong. He definitely doesn't get anything official from Apple and doesn't get paid by Apple. He gets review units just like Mossberg or Pogue but that's it.
  • Reply 35 of 57
    nolamacguynolamacguy Posts: 4,758member
    pfisher wrote: »
    I've noticed that after 35 years and in the years of Steve's passing, Apple has been showing how to jump the shark. From buying Beats to showing up on Mad Money to cheesy and embarrassing product announcements (iWatch) to putting crap apps on my phone. iWatch app on our phones? We can't delete? Really? And when I restart my phone, the music app defaults to pointing me to iTunes radio, losing where I left off to what music I was listening to? Apple? Are you trying too hard? 

    The company that could let the product sell itself (as Steve J. did so amazingly), it's more like we are being pushed product.

    Apple: let the products speak for themselves. Let people talk about the products to friends. Now I can't (or don't need to?) recommend Apple products. 

    Your life sounds rough, dude. I feel for you.
  • Reply 36 of 57
    mac_128mac_128 Posts: 3,454member
    tbell wrote: »
    I personally think the car market would be a good market for Apple to look at. Profit on a vehicle would likely be about $4000 or more.
    $4,000? On a presumably $60,000 car? That's barely over 5%. Apple makes a 69% profit on the iPhone 6. Do you really think Apple is prepared to get into a business that costs so much to maintain, yet earns them so little? Not that they couldn't, just ... Why?
  • Reply 37 of 57
    nolamacguynolamacguy Posts: 4,758member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Mac_128 View Post



    Apple makes a 69% profit on the iPhone 6. 

     

    where did apple state their profit margin on the 6 is nearly 70%?

  • Reply 38 of 57
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    sockrolid wrote: »
    Pre-release misdirection is important, yes.  But the real misdirection causes the would-be competition to make huge strategic mistakes after an Apple device is announced.  Not with "iPod," because the name is too generic.  And not so much with "iPad" either.

    But the name "iPhone," all by itself, likely caused incumbent and future competitors all manner of damage.  Because the name implies that it's a phone with extra features like internet connectivity.  So the knee-jerk reaction to its announcement was "The 'i' means that it's super-easy to get to the internet, but otherwise it's just a smartphone.  Like 'iMac.'"  So the competition thought all they had to do was add a few more features and apps to their existing smartphones.  Wrong.

    No, iPhone turned out to be a personal computing device in your pocket.  With a phone app and cell phone radio.  It took the Blackberrys and Palms years to figure that out.  And by the time they did, it was too late.  The same thing might happen with ?Watch.  The first generation is, in fact, a fancy smartwatch with iPhone connectivity.  But later generations might actually replace iPhone.

    Same with the ?Car, or whatever will be called.  It will probably look like a modern, cleanly designed electric car.  And you'll probably be able to drive it manually if you want.  But if and when it becomes self-driving, it can and will disrupt many aging 20th-century industries and rituals.  The ?Car and other self-driving all-electric cars will radically change the automobile manufacturing and petroleum industries, car dealer networks and the car buying experience, the auto insurance and repair industries, public transportation and school busing, the taxi and "airport limo" industries, the postal service and delivery services like UPS and FedEx, ad nauseam.  

    Home architecture could change too.  Why would you need a garage if you could summon a self-driving car within 5 minutes to take you directly to where you want to go?  No need to park it because it would be used immediately by the next passenger.  And that might reduce parking congestion in cities too, by the way.  Just a few things to think about.

    In heavily congested cities (such as New York), or where it is prohibitively expensive to own a vehicle (Japan and New York), shared vehicles might become a thing. The vast majority of the world is not a dense metropolitan environment, so I see such vehicles as being quite limited in their appeal.
  • Reply 39 of 57
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    mac_128 wrote: »
    $4,000? On a presumably $60,000 car? That's barely over 5%. Apple makes a 69% profit on the iPhone 6. Do you really think Apple is prepared to get into a business that costs so much to maintain, yet earns them so little? Not that they couldn't, just ... Why?

    Yes. It's a low-margin business, except when it's a high-margin business (in the luxury car market).

    I still little likelihood of Apple getting into car manufacturing.
  • Reply 40 of 57
    mac_128mac_128 Posts: 3,454member
    nolamacguy wrote: »
    where did apple state their profit margin on the 6 is nearly 70%?
    Why does Apple have to state it for it to be true?

    http://time.com/3426087/apple-iphone-6-cost/
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