Welcome to 2021, what do you want to change in 2021? Even I won’t change the world in any significant way, I can still make dents in my universe. They’ll be small, but they’re my to make 😅. So if I’m an Apple Car or TV business owner, I would want to transform them to something much better in 2021.
Nope, Not Even Apple Can Reinvent Everything Yet
Thank God, Weyland Industries is only in movies. But it shows why such news is more interesting, e.g. A company can reinvent [whatever] as Apple will be the Tesla killer. To keep some sanity, take them with a grain of salt: Even such stories sell, it doesn’t mean the claims will be true.
Video Streaming Wars — Round 2-ish
Let’s take an easy case for Apple: OTT media service. Even Apple has been on the top of many adjacent businesses and therefore a lot of leverages, Apple TV is still a “hobby”. Apple’s been “reinventing A TV” since 2007. 13 years in, Apple TV has 2% share of streaming devices, and Apple TV+ has 40m subscribers. It’s not like Apple did not try different strategies, e.g. Apple One bundling. Still more magics are needed for Apple to catch up others. For examples, a 2020 supernova: Disney Plus added 74m in the 1st year, and a bundle king: Amazon Prime/Video has 150m members. The automobile business and landscape are not any simpler than video entertainment. What’s your second thoughts?
What Business Should Apple TV/Car Really In?
It’s more important to answer that than chasing if Apple is making a car or why Hyundai could be a good partner. For any new venture, you should either know a good answer already, or on the track to find new one soon. Hit: if you think McDonald’s in a burger business, think again 🤔.
A Business of Delivering Joyful Innovations
The “TV problem” is not just about the device, tech., and not even innovation itself. To make it stick, you need to deliver to the end users, better at scale. Jobs pointed out: the Go-to-Market problems prohibit steaming device innovations back in 2010. Furthermore, TiVo DVR’s transient success demonstrated even a good feature innovation won’t cut it in a few years. Since, the business of device OEM is not getting any easier.
No one can earn high margin on commodities, because it’s how open market competition works. Furthermore HW is relatively easier to commoditized, with all due respect 😉. “But Software seems to take a lot longer for people to catch up with” as Jobs said. Even so, Apple TV has hard time to graduate from a hobby. Now how confident are you to bet Apple Car differently?
Then How?
As we look backward today, obviously OTT video service is “the real gold” because Netflix made it. So what are better questions to ask or lessons learned if to reinvent the Entertainment-on-Demand business? Maybe there can be some inspirations for what Apple Car should really be too.
- How may Apple win big in [the EoD war]? Only playing device OEM’s game maybe an easy no.
- As a small/new player in the field, what are the advantages/leverages Apple have to complete with pole sitters?
- What are the new value/innovation Apple may offer to distribute the market?
Go Figure 🧐
Allegedly Apple CEO & executives visited BMW’s factory in 2014. 6 years later, iPhone can be a BMW car key. Even not really “revolutionary”, it’s pretty useful for whoever can afford, I bet. So how long will it take for Apple to sell A car? Or someone better starts wondering: what a really good “Apple Car business” could be?
Full Disclosure
The opinions stated here are my own, not those of my company. They are most extrapolations from the news. I don’t have insider knowledge of those companies, nor an EV expert.
