Comments on: How Apple Could Spend Its $25 Billion Cash

By: Prescott

Prescott — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 20:31:06 +0000

If not buy them (Tesla), sell their software for battery charging, and some of their battery technology to the auto industry.

As cars get more complex they require more and more computing power.

I can just image walking up to a car, it unlocking for me as I send a command from my iPhone. I sit down and plug the iphone into a slot, the radio comes on/music starts playing from one of my playlists. The seat shifts to my settings as opposed to my wifes or my companion.

I tell the iPhone where I’m going and a navigation image appears on the iphone screen.

It will be your key, your gps, your navigation system, keep track of all of your cars info – gas mileage, rpm info, oil pressure, air pressure, service info, etc. and it will all be stored in your iPhone.

With the computing power the iPhone already has it could do all of this, it’s just integrating the the mac os into the vehicle chips. Or better having the vehicle chips info be readable by mac os.

How hard could that be?

By: lucas

lucas — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:25:37 +0000

and then they would still have folks unlocking phones etc. and suing them because coverage takes time. would probably take the whole reserve to set up the system too. which is likely why they didn’t just do that in the first place

By: lucas

lucas — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:24:20 +0000

apple did their own credit for a while and gave it up to Juniper. they didn’t want to be a credit card company. just like they don’t want to be a mobile phone service company

I say first and foremost they should invest some of that money in their people. they claim their staff is the core of the company, especially the retail staff. but from what I hear, almost every one of them is part time with no health insurance assistance (by the by medical bills are the key reason folks couldn’t pay mortages in this whole mess), some of them are barely trained in what they are selling and the stores at least in my area have been barely staffed for weeks.

By: DrPepper

DrPepper — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:44:40 +0000

I like Steve Nagel’s comment above about buying banks and cc companies. Apple definitely needs to get something like this in place on their side. This could be game changing just like the iPhone. They wouldn’t be managing financials because of how deeply stacked they are ($25B) — But Apple could get itself in a position to be on top of the world, and when the economy bounces back, Apple will be too powerful of a force to compete against. I hope these are their plans. I really do.

By: go

go — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:23:25 +0000

Sun Microsystems…? – it’d be easy to swallow it now…

By: Casey

Casey — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:17:24 +0000

Buying GM, Apple would also inherit $85+ billion in debt obligations, a portfolio of products people weren’t buying, the UAW, and healthcare and pensions for millions of people. Awesome fun…

I’m seeing big click wheels in place of steering wheels already.

By: zack

zack — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:35:23 +0000

Juniper Visa does this, but you only have 180 days (Six months), and it’s getting involved with Visa, an entirely different credit corp. Apple could have Apple financials and it would be like the auto industry’s % rates.

By: zack

zack — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:34:04 +0000

@Gouch Meister: I think you mean they need to increase their market share in technology before they span industries. Right?

By: CEO of GM

CEO of GM — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:31:17 +0000

tesla needs what $100 mill? that’s nothing for apple. just seems like a headache though.

By: Aviv

Aviv — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 06:41:27 +0000

They could buy Tesla with some spare change too. Give away an iPod touch with every purchase.