The idea of an Apple car has been circulating through the media for months now, and sadly this is one rumor that won’t go away, possibly for years. As with most products though, the mysterious Apple car will probably go the way of the Apple TV set—in other words, analysts and the media (and Carl Icahn) will expect to see one, but it won’t happen.
This time the rumors reemerged as a result of comments made by Apple SVP Jeff Williams. However, it seems as if a single sentence he made may have been taken out of context. (Say it isn’t so!)
A car “the ultimate mobile device”
The phrase that’s being quoted on every media website that follows Apple is this: “Well the car is the ultimate mobile device, isn’t it?” He made the remark at the Code Conference following a question from an audience member who asked about the company’s $100 billion cash hoard and whether they had any plans to do anything with it, like entering new product categories, like, say, a car.
However, Street Insider notes that after making that comment about the car being “the ultimate mobile device,” Williams started talking about CarPlay. His comments come the same week General Motors announced plans to add Android Auto and CarPlay into 2016 Chevy models, which are coming later this year.
Apple just trolling?
And so, it sounds like the Apple executive was indeed “trolling the tech press,” as suggested by Mic Wright of The Next Web, when considering the comments that came after the remark about cars. Also Apple executives must be masterminds when it comes to generating buzz and headlines about their company’s products, and this is one topic that would clearly result (and indeed has) in widespread headlines and speculations about an Apple Car.
However, Chris Ziegler of The Verge suggests that Williams wouldn’t be making such a vague remark about a product that already exists, as CarPlay does, when asked about Apple’s cash pile. It’s worth considering remarks made by Apple CEO Tim Cook regarding the idea of a watch, which came more than a year before the product itself was unveiled. However, Cook’s comment had more substance than Williams’ remark did, so I’m leaning toward his comment being just a joke.
As if this writing, shares of Apple were down 0.46% to $131.44 per share.
