Project 'Titan'
What? Apple developing an electric car? Are you kidding? No kidding. Apple has engaged in a, till recently, secret project named 'Titan". Could the Company created in 1976 by Steve Jobs in Cupertino also succeed this time? Many analysts do think so, not in the short time though. In fact, Apple was not the first Company to launch a digital music player (MP3) and, when they did it in October 2001, this market was upside down with the iPod, which has sold so far about 400 million units. Neither was Apple the first Company to launch an smartphone and, again, the market was reinvented with the iPhone launch in June 2007, by blending iPod and smartphones. Could they now repeat the success with the electric car? If Apple staff continues in good shape, I believe they could, even though the car might not be in the market till 2020. During the last year or so, Apple has published about 20 patents with Liquidmetal, a Company specialized on a material called 'Nanophosphate metal', which can be shaped like plastic. At a location near Apple headquarters in Cupertino, the new project is being developed. Taking, or trying to, not only battery technology expert staff from Tesla, Panasonic Corp, Toshiba Corp, or Samsung Electronics Co, but also engineers from the automobile industry, like Mujeeb Ijaz (Ford Mogor Corp). Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, claims Apple has been offering some of his staff $250.000 and 60% salary increases. Steve Zadesky, former Ford engineer, is who leads Titan project, at which there are currently involved several hundred engineers. This is another signthat the new Low Carbon Economy takes vigorously off and perhaps a hint on how classical automakers could, partly, be left out the electric mobility. Apple has made available to the public in a Swiss filing on March 2 that vehicles are incorporated to its product lines:
"Vehicles; Apparatus for locomotion by land, air or water; electronic hardware components for motor vehicles, rail cars and locomotives, ships and aircraft; Anti-theft devices; Theft alarms for vehicles; Bicycles; Golf carts; Wheelchairs; Air pumps; Motorcycles; Aftermarket parts (after-market parts) and accessories for the aforesaid goods." In memoriam August Puncernau, leading the group of debate at Ateneu Barcelonès.