Tesla design chief takes shot at Apple, claims there's 'nothing to look forward to'

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Comments

  • Reply 41 of 72
    What this guy misses is that, while Tesla is in the middle of and leading a new, bleeding edge industry, most of Apple's products are in mature industries -- so the spectacular great leaps forward are limited.

    But, on the flip side of that:  What spectacular, great leaps has Tesla made recently?
    lordjohnwhorfinradarthekaturaharawatto_cobra
  • Reply 42 of 72
    Says the company which designed a pickup truck resembling  the head of a spear than a pickup.

    and the rednecks are outraged!
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 43 of 72
    eriamjheriamjh Posts: 1,631member
    A guy said a thing about apple so the apple fans said a thing about that guy and the company he works for and another day went by and everyone forgot.  
    crowleylkruppradarthekat
  • Reply 44 of 72
    danoxdanox Posts: 2,804member
    What this guy misses is that, while Tesla is in the middle of and leading a new, bleeding edge industry, most of Apple's products are in mature industries -- so the spectacular great leaps forward are limited.

    But, on the flip side of that:  What spectacular, great leaps has Tesla made recently?
    What leaps? fit, finish, brakes, steering? the first adopters have Teslas, the next group of buyers will have more choice, that’s when the wheel comes off the cart.

    The group won’t put up with this:

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smGds4oz7cw

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3daQ2HSg5pg
    tmay
  • Reply 45 of 72
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,905member
    When did Tesla produce it's first consumer car and how does it look than and now ?  Same old. Apple at least makes over all design change to products.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 46 of 72
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    macxpress said:
    Who knew Steve Ballmer had German relatives working for Tesla?
    I was just gonna say this...I don't care if you like Apple or not, never ever underestimate what Apple can do even if it's completely new to a space. Seems like so many times Apple goes to enter a space and those already in it after like pfft yeah whatever Apple and maybe it takes a few years but guess what, Apple comes up out front (or near the front) and those companies who don't take companies like Apple seriously start losing out on their own business. Even if the first product is just mediocre, Apple adapts, changes and it has the cash, resources and customer base to do this. 
    Yep, this Tesla guy sounds exactly like Nokia, Blackberry, and Microsoft when the iPhone was introduced in 2007. No way could Apple muscle in on their turf. Now they’re gone from the smartphone market. My son keeps telling me that Tesla is going to take a big fall once the major auto manufacturers get their acts together on EVs.
    spicedtmaykillroymacxpresswatto_cobra
  • Reply 47 of 72
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    eriamjh said:
    A guy said a thing about apple so the apple fans said a thing about that guy and the company he works for and another day went by and everyone forgot.  
    You win the Internet today! Congratulations!
    killroywatto_cobra
  • Reply 48 of 72
    tyler82 said:
    Xed said:
    This from a company that has been filing the Model S design for a decade?
    Don’t be so unfair. They also copied the Lotus design. 
    That is an unfair comment considering the Model S is not copied from the Lotus design, you must be thinking of the first-generation Roadster.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 49 of 72
    lkrupp said:

    Yep, this Tesla guy sounds exactly like Nokia, Blackberry, and Microsoft when the iPhone was introduced in 2007. No way could Apple muscle in on their turf. Now they’re gone from the smartphone market. My son keeps telling me that Tesla is going to take a big fall once the major auto manufacturers get their acts together on EVs.
    Precisely! Anyone makes fun of Apple beware karma comes behind and whack real hard …..yet these bad mouth has no where to hide their face and before they knew it their product doesn’t exist!
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 50 of 72
    You should shut up and work on cars cars fit and finish. And stop making it work like an incendiary bomb.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 51 of 72
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    Xed said:
    paxman said:
    He’s not wrong. 
    My thoughts exactly. 
    The thing is that personal computing devices and software are so advanced at this point that 'refinements' is as good as it gets. I do get excited about some refinements - hello universal control - but one of my main computers is a 2013 iMac that is really pared down in terms of the software I have loaded into it - I don't log into iCloud on it - and the thing is 100% functional for its purpose. 
    I run a much more recent model next to it but in terms of basic functionality they are pretty equal. 

    There are major milestones but they don't happen often. What was the last incredible milestone that happen in the auto design industry? Electrification was pretty huge but we are already at a refinement stage there, too.  Autonomous vehicles is major. Other than that it has basically been refinements since the model T :smiley: 

    By your own statement of "I do get excited about some refinements" it can't be your "thoughts exactly" since Holzhausen said that Apple products offer nothing to look forward to.

    So, your thoughts selectively, do you agree with that title statement or not?
    Oh... you are so literal and specific!  I am basically saying that yes, there are refinements that I get excited about, and as such you are right, there is usually something to be excited about, but the general sentiment still stands. Obviously I can read between the linesI understand what Holzhausen is going for with his statement. 

    When Apple AR specs come out, that will be pretty huge, even tho I am not excited about the prospect. I find it hard to be excited about tech in the same way I was years ago.  Maybe one day a small start up will come along creating something cool and more in tune with what I want personally, and I will be excited about that - and perhaps following their battle against 'the man'. But lets face it, much as I am and have been an Apple enthusiast for a very long time, Apple is totally the main stream these days. That is not bad per se, but a little less exciting.
  • Reply 52 of 72
    Guess the lad is new to Apple stuff. Iterative product development is the name of the game. It’s how we got from the original iPhone/Mac/Watch/whatever to the current versions, or iterations.

    Gruber wrote about over a decade ago:

    https://www.macworld.com/article/1151235/macs/apple-rolls.html
    kiltedgreenwatto_cobra
  • Reply 53 of 72
    puiz666puiz666 Posts: 18unconfirmed, member
    Tesla has a design chief? 
    lkruppkillroywatto_cobra
  • Reply 54 of 72
    In other words, there was no revolution because everyone else eventually caught up. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 55 of 72
    tmaytmay Posts: 6,311member
    Xed said:
    This from a company that has been milking the Model S design with a "slight refinement on the same thing" for a decade? It's a testament to a great design from the start… but fucking odd for Holzhausen to say.
    I’m a Tesla fan and shareholder as well
    as an Apple fan and shareholder, so I closely follow both companies.  What you are saying is echoed over on Teslarati about the Model S.  And the defense of the Model S design is two fold:

    First, that the company doesn’t need to dramatically refresh the exterior design because they’re selling every car they can produce.  That sounds just like Apple.  

    and

    Second, that although the exterior design hasn’t radically changed the internals have, most definitely, changed radically over the years.  And this too sounds just like Apple.  

    Strange that a Tesla “design chief” would attack another company for doing exactly what Tesla is doing.  Tesla shouldn’t refresh the Model S design because that would increase demand, which they already can’t meet without months of waiting.  Hasn’t Apple been in about that same position for the entire iPhone era?  Yup.  

    Your point is well taken.  
    Seems accurate to state that (almost) all auto manufacturers are selling everything that they make at this point in time.

    Meanwhile, the "dinosaurs" are executing plans to produce more EV's, in more segments, than Tesla can execute on. That doesn't necessarily mean that Tesla is "doomed", but for a company that has over 90% of its sales in two models, Model 3 and Model Y, and given that Tesla is almost a 20 year old company, Tesla needs to do much better in quality, service, and support than they are now, if they want to retain their status as leading manufacture of EV's.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 56 of 72
    radarthekatradarthekat Posts: 3,842moderator
    eriamjh said:
    A guy said a thing about apple so the apple fans said a thing about that guy and the company he works for and another day went by and everyone forgot.  
    Yes, but what a day it was!
    Xedwatto_cobra
  • Reply 57 of 72
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,335member
    Xed said:
    This from a company that has been milking the Model S design with a "slight refinement on the same thing" for a decade? It's a testament to a great design from the start… but fucking odd for Holzhausen to say.
    I’m a Tesla fan and shareholder as well
    as an Apple fan and shareholder, so I closely follow both companies.  What you are saying is echoed over on Teslarati about the Model S.  And the defense of the Model S design is two fold:

    First, that the company doesn’t need to dramatically refresh the exterior design because they’re selling every car they can produce.  That sounds just like Apple.  

    and

    Second, that although the exterior design hasn’t radically changed the internals have, most definitely, changed radically over the years.  And this too sounds just like Apple.  

    Strange that a Tesla “design chief” would attack another company for doing exactly what Tesla is doing.  Tesla shouldn’t refresh the Model S design because that would increase demand, which they already can’t meet without months of waiting.  Hasn’t Apple been in about that same position for the entire iPhone era?  Yup.  

    Your point is well taken.  

    Second these opinions.

    I'm very surprised that someone that's a "design chief" wouldn't have a little more insight into why so many of Apple's products seem to fall into a pattern of incremental and subtle refinement. Apple's design process is very intentional, purposeful, and contributes something positive to the human-machine interaction. Several Apple products including the iPhone, iPad, iMac, and MacBook Pro are the archetypes for the product categories they serve.

    Once these iconic Apple products hit the market they became the de facto standards for how products in their respective categories should look, work, and interact with users. Samsung and the other makers of "smartphones" of the pre-iPhone era absolutely HAD to copy the iPhone because their existing products were no longer viable. Deviation from the standard, the iPhone as archetype, was no longer an option. Going back or trying to avoid following the archetype design would be totally retrograde, like reverting modern humans back to their ape-like ancestors. For what reason? To try evolving in a different direction? Once the modern human form took hold, I guess you could claim that it's just been "very unexciting" incremental changes going forward. If you were hoping for a third arm or maybe prehensile tail, yeah, I guess it's been boring and uninspiring changes to the human form archetype.

    It's very easy to look at a product like the iPhone or Apple Watch and not see the intricacies that are hidden in its very simple looking physical appearance. If the iPhone's software based functionality were instead in an analog or mechanical form it would be a million times more complex than the most complex timepiece or industrial machine ever fabricated by man. Imagine millions upon millions of intricate gears, shafts, springs, levers, and cogs that all have to work together without failing and with microsecond level precision and near zero maintenance, all while fitting in a package that slides into your pants pocket or is worn on your wrist. The fact that these Apple products are able to provide such an amazing level of functionality and very good interaction with their owners while still appearing to be very simple and becoming essential additions to our everyday lives is nothing short of amazing.

    Maybe this guy is hoping that Apple adds tail fins and spinning wheels to the iPhone or a locomotive cow catcher grill to the MacBook Pro, or comes up with a truck design that looks like it was drawn by a 4 year old from the Transformers school of toy design. It's not going to happen at Apple. Not because it can't happen, as we've seen with Tesla, but because it doesn't make sense to design a functional product with aesthetics that serve no purpose other than to satisfy a big kid with a toy truck fetish. Tesla should forget the batteries and electric motors and just have a massive spring and big wind-up key on the side of their truck.
    byronltmaypscooter63radarthekatwatto_cobra
  • Reply 58 of 72
    Tesla is obsessed with Apple. 

    Speaking directly to design: Tesla doesn't have a leg to stand on, their premier vehicle is a rip off of the Jaguar design, and youtube is filled with videos complaining about their piss poor build quality.


    pscooter63watto_cobra
  • Reply 59 of 72
    byronlbyronl Posts: 356member
    i love tesla, i love him, but he's just wrong here.






    i still believe tesla is gonna be bigger than apple though lol
    radarthekat
  • Reply 60 of 72
    byronlbyronl Posts: 356member
    What this guy misses is that, while Tesla is in the middle of and leading a new, bleeding edge industry, most of Apple's products are in mature industries -- so the spectacular great leaps forward are limited.

    But, on the flip side of that:  What spectacular, great leaps has Tesla made recently?

    did you watch tesla's ai day? did you watch sandy munro's teardowns of the model s plaid? tesla has done many spectacular things recently
    radarthekatanantksundaram
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