19 May 2016

Analyse Asia Podcast Part 2: Apple in Asia and Autonomous Cars



Continuing our discussion from the last episode, we analyzed Apple’s Q1 2016 earnings and challenged the notion whether Apple’s Asia (India and China) and their rumored car strategy will revitalize growth. Through the lens of the Apple rumored car, we dived deeper into a conversation on artificial intelligence & autonomous vehicles.

Show notes with time-stamps included:

Apple’s iPhone Blip and will their Asia strategy with China & India work?
  • Apple’s recent Q1 2016 earnings: What happened? [1:47]
  • How did the Apple miss the forecast of the iPhone earnings? [3:00]
  • Apple’s upgrade cycle is not a cause but an effect. [4:11]
  • Has Android to iPhone switching been saturated? [5:25]
  • Is iPhone SE the solution to accelerate upgrades? Is Apple using screen size as a way to manage ASP in the Asia context? [6:10], References: Tech-Thoughts: iPhone Headwinds
  • Is the smartphone industry changing structurally now that technology is now good enough? [8:30]
  • iPhone 6 cycle depressed the entire Android premium phone industry and Samsung returned to profitability with the Galaxy S7. [9:40]
  • What does that mean for Apple in the next iPhone 7 iteration? [Tim Culpan’s “Follow Apple’s Suppliers”] [10:33]
  • Apple’s “services” narrative will not work in Asia. [11:15]
  • Taiwanese (happened to be in Asia) Apple analyst Ming Chi Kuo predicts Apple watch sales will fall in 2016.  [13:00]
  • Is Apple’s expansion to India (with their current focus to China) going to save them? [14:48] Note that China has just banned Apple movie and books services.  
  • Can Apple’s rumored car can restore them to growth? [17:50]
Self Driving Cars, Business Models & Regulation [18:25]
  • The best autonomous cars have to be electric. [18:50]
  • The different models for autonomous and electric vehicles [19:30]
    • On demand transportation which destroys car ownership: Uber, Lyft (and their recent deal with General Motors).
    • Internet services model with web and mobile: Baidu, Google using maps and search linking it with cars.
    • Car OEMs and hardware makers: Tesla, Apple, and car makers such as Toyota, Nissan, VW Group, Audi, BMW.
  • What is the path forward for self driving cars? Full Autonomy vs Incrementalism [20:18]
  • Asian governments testing the concept of self driving car zones. [Reference: Vox, “The most important question about a self-driving car is whether it has a steering wheel“). [22:17]
  • Self driving cars are more focused on creating fixed and optimized routes rather than creating complexity to transportation. [23:40]
  • Google’s self driving car and potential ride sharing service. (Ref: TheInformation: “Why Google may not win in self driving cars“) [24:30]
  • AI and self driving cars. [26:23]
  • Tesla’s hybrid model OEM and services with their supercharging stations. [28:48]
  • China’s foray into electric cars, and the launch of LeSee, with the same backer to the Faraday car.  [29:20]
  • Tesla model 3’s successful crowdfunding campaign and what does it mean for the automotive industry in the next few years? [30:00] (Tesla sees 300K orders upon crowdfunding). 
  • Uber submits 800 COEs bids in Singapore, changing the game for cars. What does that mean for countries viewing car ownership as a prestige? [33:15]
Source: Analyse Asia