upcoming new Apple product categories

[BostonQuad]

(No question, just some observations...)

Apple's put huge effort into 2 new product categories:

• mixed reality (about to be released)
• vehicles (maybe someday released)

When I think back to when "smartphone" was a new product category for Apple, Apple was extraordinarily positioned to have a runaway success:

1. Apple had deep experience in creating integrated hardware and software (Mac, others) and Apple knew how to make a successful pocketable device (iPod)
2. Smartphones were new and burgeoning, and it was clear the product category would be huge

When I think of the Vision Pro, Apple likewise has advantage #1 going for it (substitute "wearable" for "pocketable"). But the market appetite for this category is uncertain.

When I think of an Apple Car, Apple has the opposite problem. There's certainly a huge market for cars, but vehicles are outside of Apple's wheelhouse.

Interesting times are ahead.

 

[Pakaku]

The Vision Pro makes sense as a new category because it's more of a new step in desktop computing. Just take the idea of a Mac, and replace the static computer screen with virtual screens. iPods and iPhones were still computer devices. The iPad is a different sort of laptop.

Meanwhile every time I see the Apple Car get brought up, it just feels so unbelievable that it's not even worth dedicating a theoretical category in my mind to. I don't think Apple will venture beyond Carplay, and I doubt they want to take on designing a whole car when most of the computer is basically just the car's dashboard.

 

[BostonQuad]

I doubt they want to take on designing a whole car when most of the computer is basically just the car's dashboard.

That's the user-facing computer. Today's vehicles also have software for blind spot monitoring, lane assist, traction distribution, adaptive cruise control, etc. To reach full autonomous driving, the computer system will indeed be a major component for future cars.

Yet I agree with the essence of your comment. If Apple were an AI leader, an Apple vehicle wouldn't be quite as much of a stretch. But Apple is an AI laggard.

It also seems out of character for Apple to go so far outside their core competency. Contrast that with Google Alphabet, which ventures into healthcare, venture capital, etc. Plus, Google is an AI leader.