Report claims Apple talking with Volkswagen over 'iCar'
Readers may want to take this one with a bag of rock salt, but German magazine Capital is reporting that Apple and automaker Volkswagen have engaged in early discussions over a concept car dubbed "iCar."
The report -- available via Google translation -- claims that Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn recently flew to California where he sat down for a brainstorming session with Apple's Steve Jobs.
Though still in the early planning stages, the two firms reportedly plan to cooperate on the development of a new generation of Volkswagen compact cars that would include several Apple tie-ins.
Experts cited in the report say compact cars that come loaded with several pieces of Apple gear could serve as a particular draw amongst younger-generation customers.
Apple presently works with several automakers, including BMW, for iPod and iPhone integration. There have also been rumors that the company has teamed up with another German automaker, Mercedes-Benz, to develop a radically new dashboard navigation system due out next year.
The report -- available via Google translation -- claims that Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn recently flew to California where he sat down for a brainstorming session with Apple's Steve Jobs.
Though still in the early planning stages, the two firms reportedly plan to cooperate on the development of a new generation of Volkswagen compact cars that would include several Apple tie-ins.
Experts cited in the report say compact cars that come loaded with several pieces of Apple gear could serve as a particular draw amongst younger-generation customers.
Apple presently works with several automakers, including BMW, for iPod and iPhone integration. There have also been rumors that the company has teamed up with another German automaker, Mercedes-Benz, to develop a radically new dashboard navigation system due out next year.
Comments
On a personal note - I don't buy cars from a company with significant Nazi roots / origins.
On a personal note - I don't buy cars from a company with significant Nazi roots / origins.
IBM provided the computers that made the holocaust possible, yet I doubt that you had any problem buying an iBook G4. Idiot.
This whole i thing is getting out of control, if the reports of an iCar pan out.
On a personal note - I don't buy cars from a company with significant Nazi roots / origins.
I think that could be just step for Apple to dominate in another industry and almost anyone has a car.
I could imagine a car containing a computer powered by the car battery (almost unlimited battery life, because it charges as you go). That computer can sync all your stuff with home computer before you leave home, then stay in touch with your mobile devices in work and then sync all your stuff with home once you arrive.
PS: I'm from country occupied by Nazi Germany (when betrayed by France, UK and all other "allies") and I have no problem buying German car. The car has nothing to do with politics. Gemrans do good cars and that's the only what matters when buying a car.
What does today's VW have to do with WWII? When you're buying a Buick or Chrysler, aren't you then supporting the Hiroshima bomb?
This whole i thing is getting out of control, if the reports of an iCar pan out.
On a personal note - I don't buy cars from a company with significant Nazi roots / origins.
you're ignorant.
I agree with Denton and wessan. That's just stupid.
What does today's VW have to do with WWII? When you're buying a Buick or Chrysler, aren't you then supporting the Hiroshima bomb?
I agree with all of the above (not to shout ?me too!? or anything
I agree with all of the above (not to shout ?me too!? or anything
iPorn, it's gonna be big.
On a personal note - I don't buy cars from a company with significant Nazi roots / origins.
Then Peter came up and said to him, ?Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?? Jesus said to him, ?I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.
Then Peter came up and said to him, ?Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?? Jesus said to him, ?I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.
And I thought the original stupid comment made no sense
Originally Posted by mstone
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.
And I thought the original stupid comment made no sense
Obviously that means after the Nazis wronging you for 490 times, you can stop forgiving them. But only if they live next door
IBM provided the computers that made the holocaust possible, yet I doubt that you had any problem buying an iBook G4. Idiot.
IBM's first computers were in the 50's...
Besides building the tanks, armaments, etc. that killed American soldiers, the German car companies used Jewish slave labor in their factories. When people were too weak to be productive, they were sent to concentration camps or killed. (Side note: a very well-known aspirin company manufactured the cyanide used in concentration camps).
If someone wants to make a moral decision to not support the heirs of those who made possible the Nazi murders, good for them. If you don't think it's relevant 60 years later, good for you. It's individual sensitivity and choice.
"Bacillus just thought one could play the 'holier than thou' card and walk away intact?"
I don't see where he did any such thing. Giving a personal moral opinion is not criticizing anyone else. Did he say other people should come to the same conclusion? No, he just made a statement of his own feeling, in a pretty matter-of-fact way.
Everyone is, of course, free to have their opinion on whatever political matter they choose, but if I posted here that I was going to return my Macs and iPhone because they are an American company, and I didn't want to support the heirs of slaveowners, I would be making an absurd, foolish statement, and doing so in the wrong forum.
He should keep his irrelevant personal political views in the AppleOutsider forum. That way we don't have to read them, or the two hundred posts (like this one) responding to his post in the first place, when we're just trying to read discussion of news and rumors.
IBM's first computers were in the 50's...
I don't recognize the font on the number(s) series done on the arms of Jews.. can you?
PS. and stop that silly nazi flame. A single post is all it takes to drown the thread in useless noise!