wonkothesane

So it seems sales peaked in and around 2017. I would not be surprised that this trend continues for some time, until there is another stepchange in product design; such as a breakthrough in battery tech. Otherwise I suppose we have those customers where money doesn‘t matter so much and they simply take the latest and greatest; while other consumers are stretching out the upgrade cycle, partly bec abuse of lack of „real reasons“, partly because of economic reasons.

I think is largely a strategic one in order to reduce dependency on production from China and Taiwan. We already strongly felt the significant impact of the disruptions and difficulties  in the supply chain caused by the pandemic. Also, there is a certain level of fear what might happen in case China should decide to march into Taiwan. In addition, it is simply considered a major areas of innovation and growth. You can also say that globalization has reached its peak and there is overall a tendency to not depend on suppliers in countries with - let’s say - a lower level of trust.

Some fun facts:
- China accounts for roughly 70% of min production of rare earths, basically needed in almost any product in electronics, aerospace, automotive, etc.
- Meds are largely coming from China and India
- numerous products such as certain clothing, toys etc. aren’t made at all anymore in the US, or Europe

Alex_V said:

wonkothesane said:

I’m curious who’ll be laughing some years from now. IIRC, Musk always wanted to create the “western WeChat” - the one platform “to rule them all”. Any of you, who have been to China will probably know that it is virtually impossible to live without WeChat: Payments, Reservations, Customer Service, Streaming,…
This guy certainly has a lot of funding; I guess he just waits until the X takes off.

Build the app first, and then promote the app. If you promote the app before building it, it’s “vaporware.”

That’s why I wrote I’m curious. I really am.

DigiTimes: 61.4% accurate. (Src.: https://appletrack.com/digitimes/)

I’m curious who’ll be laughing some years from now. IIRC, Musk always wanted to create the “western WeChat” - the one platform “to rule them all”. Any of you, who have been to China will probably know that it is virtually impossible to live without WeChat: Payments, Reservations, Customer Service, Streaming,…
This guy certainly has a lot of funding; I guess he just waits until the X takes off.