bestkeptsecret

Rayz2016 said:

redstater said:

"The smart home space is heating up as tech giants like Amazon, Apple and most recently Google put their considerable weight behind in-house initiatives." Sure. Right. Google launched their IoT strategy in 2014. That was when they launched voice-driven wearables and smart TV/TV box products and oh yes paid $2.3 billion for Nest. It didn't get off the ground because Samsung and LG went their own way with their own IoT platforms; Samsung's based on Tizen and LG based on webOS (renamed lgOS). Then Google tried again by launching an IoT platform based on a stripped-down version of Android called Brillo and an API called Weave. That was slightly more successful, as Google's go-to gadget company Asus, Kwikset and a couple more companies have Brillo/Weave gadgets launching this year (a door lock, a smart bridge and a Wi-Fi chip). Speaking of Wi-Fi chips, Google's OnHub routers (built by Asus) run ChromeOS. LG, playing both sides of the aisle, committed to trying their hand at Brillo-based appliances this year in addition to their own platform, because their lgOS based devices haven't been as successful as Samsung's (insecure and hackable) Tizen ones. So considering that they bought Nest (who also owns Dropcam) and launched other products as part of their IoT strategy before Apple even announced HomeKit, saying "most recently Google" is ridiculous. Google's "most recent" development is merely adding a competitor to Amazon Echo to their platform. Incidentally, I always find it humorous that whenever someone else launches a product or feature after Apple, that player is accused of "copying" or "infringing" but when Apple is the second (or third or fourth) to the party, there are always claims that "Apple was researching our own product before the competition launched theirs." So ... right. The device launched nearly 2 years ago. How long does it take to put iOS in a speaker? When you have already been making iPods for 14 years and iPods have run iOS sincd 2007!!!. At the very most this was an idea that Apple considered but mothballed only to revive when other companies demonstrated that it was a good idea. Nothing wrong with Apple coming out with their own speaker because Apple was known for great audio even before the iPod, but feeling the need to claim "no we were first REALLY!" just diminishes the #1 company in the world.

You're getting your underwear all twisted up for nothing. To begin with, this is a rumour. Secondly, Apple has never been first to market with anything and had never claimed to be. The iPhone was a success because Apple looked at existing phones and saw that they were not good. They had 10 years of Mcrosoft missteps to examine before they released the iPad. The fabled Apple car will be the result of looking at Tesla and working out why the haven't sold the notion of electric cars to everyone (probably because the notion of 'buying' a car is the problem). 

This is site was trying to make a big deal of Schmidt owning an iPhone.  We know he owns one; how else did Googe come up with Android?

And if Tim Cook doesn't have a stack of Samsungs in his top drawer then he's not doing his job. 

bobschlob said:

EsquireCats said:

To investors, these are the sort of "moon shots" that will drive up Apple's share price.

To the tech-aware this seems like the perfect cross section between seeding autonomous vehicles, combating google's very public mindshare in this field, providing competition against the oft criticised uber and most importantly: buying the Chinese government's endorsement. With this investment Apple aren't just some American company trying to woo Chinese revenue, they're now part of the home-grown fabric of China's tech scene.

It also highlights how Apple's approach to the electric car could undermine Tesla: The futuristic view that personal car ownership is a temporary concept inherited from needing understand a vehicle (or if you think even further back, a horse.) It's not unreasonable to think that in the future personal car ownership will be for enthusiasts, while most car based travel would be the domain of automation.

Anything else you'd like to pull out of your a55?

Man, I want Apple to astound and amaze us all (and they will) as much as the next person. But you should take a chill pill.