Slashdot Mirror
Apple Approaches McLaren About A Potential Acquisition: FT (ft.com)
Apple has approached British Formula One team owner McLaren for a strategic investment or a potential buyout (Editor's note: the link could be paywalled; alternate source), the Financial Times reported, citing sources. The loss-making automotive group could be valued at around $1.4 billion. A deal with McLaren, which also makes high-performance sports cars, could give Apple key automotive technology amid reports that the company is working on a self-driving car. From the report:The California technology group, which has been working on a self-driving electric vehicle for more than two years, is considering a full takeover of McLaren or a strategic investment, according to three people briefed on the negotiations who said talks started several months ago. Update: 09/21 17:31 GMT by M :The New York Times, citing two people familiar with the matter, is now reporting the same. The publication additional says that Apple has also held talks with Lit Motors, a San Francisco start-up that has developed an electric self-balancing motorcycle, about a potential acquisition.
Why would Apple acquire an maker of overpriced consumer luxury goods? How could that possibly fit in with their current portfolio?
Apple loves their premium branding. They charge $700 for a phone, makes sense they would push for a $500,000 iCar. Either way, less than 1/4 of the ticket price will be parts cost, the rest will be the Apple Tax.
ftw
This will ensure your $1.5 million car will be worth $30k.
The only "FT" mentioned in the summary is "Financial Times".
So, Apple wants to buy the Financial Times from McLaren? That would be a very strategic investment indeed.
I've been a supporter of McLaren since I was a kid. I could never support an Apple F1 team. (or Google, or Microsoft, or Blackberry, or Facebook)
I know it's a corporate entity and it shouldn't matter who owns/runs them- but on a basic level it would ruin it for me.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Current title is:
Apple Approaches McLaren About A Potential Acquisition: FT
It's hard to read this as not being about Apple approaching McLaren about buying FT. Then:
Apple has approached British Formula One team owner McLaren for a strategic investment or a potential buyout
So Apple is investing in ... McLaren? Formula One? The British Formula One team? British modifies McLaren, maybe?
Sigh.
I've wondered why there is not an automated racing series.... most new performance technologies are vetted first on the racetrack. This would be a great way to develop bulletproof software.
love is just extroverted narcissism
I've been a supporter of McLaren since I was a kid. I could never support an Apple F1 team.
Ok, honest question. Though I know who the teams are I'm not a follower of F1. Why do you care one way or the other about McLaren? What do they do that makes them particularly worthy of your adoration among F1 teams? And why would Apple owning them affect that adoration in any way? Obviously it doesn't bother you that the government of Bahrain is a 50% owner why should it matter if Apple is the owner instead? Not being critical I just don't understand your position.
I know it's a corporate entity and it shouldn't matter who owns/runs them- but on a basic level it would ruin it for me.
Not seeing the logic in your position. And frankly the F1 part of the company is merely the most visible part.
1. $1000 phones havent been fashionable in almost a decade, with most users preferring more versatile and affordable Android based devices. the killing stroke? wireless earbuds guaranteed to be swallowed by the nearest toddler.
2. Apple laptops were once flagships of technological innovation. now most laptops sport outmoded processors and ram with only slick video to gin up the fanboys. the killing stroke? function keys are now a touch screen.
3. the apple...car? Tesla will easily beat them to the market for a high performance luxury supercar with "ludicrous" speed showing up as an upgrade. nissan, bmw, and toyota already have award winning design and functionality thats not only ChaDeMO compatible but affordable for anyone whos lunch didnt happen on a yacht. Google, Uber, Lyft, and a host of other companies have already spent more time and money developing and testing the self driving car. If apple seriously thinks that somehow buying a supercar company with no experience in fully electric vehicles is somehow going to help them its difficult to see how. It would have been smarter for them to just buy an existing company, but im sure Tesla flat-out refused.
Good people go to bed earlier.
McLaren have denied it in a comment to The Verge:
http://www.theverge.com/2016/9...
I've wondered why there is not an automated racing series.... most new performance technologies are vetted first on the racetrack.
Because there is no money in it. The fact that racing is a test bed for a lot of technology is incidental. Nobody watches auto racing because of that fact and they certainly don't pay money because of it.
This would be a great way to develop bulletproof software.
You run into a lot of pedestrians, bad weather, bad roads, wildlife, oncoming traffic, crossing traffic, traffic lights, etc on a racetrack? If so where are you watching racing? The only automotive racing that might make a credible test bed would be rally car racing and that doesn't deal with any of the city obstacles.
There is no money in ANY auto racing....it's purely sponsor driven
That's like saying Google doesn't make any money because all they do is advertise. You're kind of missing the point. The advertising for the sponsors IS the business model. Sure they have some ancillary revenue streams (gate, merch, etc) but basically F1 and most other forms of auto racing are basically advertising platforms. F1 as a business brought in about $1.5 billion last year and that is just for the corporate entity that owns F1, not any of the others with a financial stake in it.
And while the software would have to be modified for other scenarios, the number #1 concern would be to avoid other cars without causing an accident and racing would be great for that.
Racing only would be useful for avoiding cars that happen to be going the same direction as you. It has no oncoming or cross traffic or stopped vehicles. It doesn't have inexperienced or bad drivers. Not saying it would be useless but it really wouldn't solve most of the key problems in automated cars.
I'm a PC.
I'm a Mc.
rather than rounded corners
$1000 phones havent been fashionable in almost a decade, with most users preferring more versatile and affordable Android based devices. the killing stroke?
And yet people buy them by the millions and nearly all the profit in smart phones goes to Apple with no sign of that stopping in the near future. They continue to be able to sell them at a premium when almost nobody else can. And you think Apple products are out of fashion? I think you might be the one who is out of touch.
Apple laptops were once flagships of technological innovation.
At times but never consistently. Apple has hardly ever been the technology leader. Rather they have been the leader in determining trends. They are rarely the first to push any given technology but when they do other typically follow. Same with when they dump a technology. They are at the top of the heap in figuring out how to package products in ways people like and find useful.
the apple...car? Tesla will easily beat them to the market for a high performance luxury supercar with "ludicrous" speed showing up as an upgrade.
To be blunt, what Apple car? Apple hasn't released a car so most discussion about such a hypothetical product is almost pure speculation. Yes we know they are working on something in that space. That's it. And why are you talking about Tesla in the future tense since they have already done the things you indicate?
If apple seriously thinks that somehow buying a supercar company with no experience in fully electric vehicles is somehow going to help them its difficult to see how.
It's only difficult because you don't understand McLaren. McLaren has already done hybrid vehicles and they have some of the most advanced automotive engineers on the planet on their payroll. Furthermore McLaren has a design culture that probably is very compatible with Apple's so it makes a lot of sense there too. Plus the company is a conglomerate with other bits of useful technology and research that Apple could make use of.
It would have been smarter for them to just buy an existing company, but im sure Tesla flat-out refused.
You're "sure Tesla refused" are you? Where is your evidence that Apple ever made an offer for Tesla? Frankly buying Tesla would be stupid because the company is ludicrously overvalued. For merely double the money they could buy General Motors and that would make a lot more sense. Heck Apple has enough cash to buy BOTH GM and Ford outright twice over. But Apple isn't going to buy Tesla and they aren't going to buy GM. Doing either would be financially stupid and neither would be a good fit culturally with Apple.
McLaren as an acquisition makes some amount of sense. Small enough to easily digest, has technology and engineers they could utilize, understands the auto industry and has a design culture. I can see some logic there.
I don't know what sport you support but just for clarification. If Apple bought the New York Yankees and turned them into the "New York iPhones" - do you not think Yankees fans would be annoyed?
And why do you immediately suppose Apple would be so gauche? Come on. You don't have to like Apple but they aren't idiots.
A quiet investment group buying a club or a team... not a big deal, it doesn't impact the public perception of the club.
It's pretty unlikely that Apple would suddenly start branding McLaren's F1 team in such a manner. They're actually pretty adept at the marketing game. Yeah you might see an Apple logo here or there but it's not as if there aren't corporate sponsors already. F1 is basically a business of rolling billboards today.
A big corporate entity buying a club and branding it to suit them. That's selling out! I've never liked how American stadiums are all named after corporations. It ruins the aura for me.
It's adorable that you think F1 has never "sold out" given that the entire business model is advertising. Without explicit corporate sponsorship F1 doesn't exist. They slap corporate logos on anything that moves - literally. And you think Apple getting involved in that promotion-fest would change things? Spare me.
I was intrigued by Lit when they first made headlines a few years ago. Recently I went looking to see whatever came of them - only to discover that the CEO/Mastermind had suffered a serious accident and everything had slowed to a virtual halt.
So this may be good news. A new life for Lit.
Imagine lots of little 1 (or 2) person self driving taxis. It could be a breakthrough. Rather than lots of regular sized cars (or mini things like Google has) - Lits could be single person cars which also solves the number of cars on the road issue. Pack'em in.
And maybe "Ginger" (Segway) will make a comeback in a weird sort of rickshaw mode of city transportation. Rather than you driving it - you just sit and it takes you to your destination.
You won't be able to refuel and listen to the radio at the same time.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
Because, when you are lit, your motorcycle had better be self-balancing.
There will be no Apple in 20 years. They are jumping the shark and utterly clueless with no focus at all. Their single visionary and the one and only reason they were ever successful at one point in time is dead.
They are not to big to fail, they will just die a very slow and painful death.
Something interesting....Eddy Cue is also on Ferrari's board of directors:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
http://www.edmunds.com/car-new...
McLaren and Ferrari have a rivalry stretching back about 40 years, both on the street and on the track.
If you post as Anonymous Coward, don't expect a reply.
lets see......Apple + McLaren = Apple maps getting you completely lost faster than ever before.......?
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
I'm sure that if Apple really wanted to, they could just keep upping the offer until it's impossible for Mclaren to say no, but I REALLY hope it doesn't go through.
From literally hundreds in the 50's, McLaren are one of the very few remaining actually British prestige car companies.
Rolls Royce, Mini are owned by BMW (German), Bentley is owned by VW (German), Jaguar is owned by Tata (Indian), Lotus is owned by Proton holdings (Malaysian) and as far as I can tell, Aston Martin is actually a mostly Italian/Arab consortium.
The only other still truly British sports car company that I can think of that actually makes cars is Morgan (Who knows whats happening with Noble and TVR, they were always very low-volume anyway).
Also, McLaren are beyond obsessive about good engineering and true craftsmanship. I'm sure that under Apple/American management, they will be "educated" to be a lot more "pragmatic" about costs vs. perceived quality through branding/advertising vs actual quality through engineering.
I would like to see your source for that observation. Not as a challenge, but because it would provide a welcomed counterbalance to the consolidation I'm seeing in finance as of the past few decades.
Look at Gibson Guitar Corporation. Per this wikipedia article, the global sales of guitars began to decline, so they marshalled their resources and diversified by acquiring a bunch of other companies.
Every year, I see fewer and fewer independent companies out there. Especially in auto manufacturers. Other than Tesla, not a lot of new companies bringing cars to market. Instead, all the smaller companies are bought out by bigger companies. Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of Fiat / Chrysler, which owns a bunch of smaller car brands, is always trying to get more consolidation going in the auto industry.
Another example happened back in the late 2000s when Porsche attempted a hostile buyout of VW, and got too strung out in debt in the attempt and then VW turned around and ate Porsche.
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
And yet, I can easily found dozens of 10" tablet "powered" by Mediatek chipset, that can still run on Android,
and all cost ~150 CHF (~140 EUR, ~155 USD, ~120 GBP).
(Similar tendency of price difference in smartphones too)
The same android.
Of course, if you try and look for the most expensive Android manufacturer, it's going to be in the same ballpark as Apple.
For the rest of us, you could try a cheaper alternative (LG, HTC, etc.)
For the people who simply use tablets and smartphones as glorified Web/Facebook/Instagram browsers and chat machines, you can find ultra-low cost (Huawei, or even less known asian brands).
Most
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]