harmon

StrangeDays said:

larryjw said:

Patents can be valuable on their own. Apple doesn't have to build a car for the patents to earn money for Apple. Now that the patents are filed, other manufacturers can license and build. 

Selling patents isn’t a business line for Apple. They wouldn’t get into auto patents for that reason alone.

Agreed as far as your statement goes, but it is entirely possible (maybe even likely) that Apple spent millions pursuing the design of its own car, developed valuable technology and designs in doing so, ultimately scuttled the project or at least dramatically scaled it back, and is now giving itself the option to either pick the project back up later and/or recoup some of its shareholders' money by patenting and later licensing the designs that it paid to develop.