Apple is negotiating with the German manufacturer BMW the licensing of certain technologies and underlying components BMW i3, the company from Cupertino being in serious discussions with the Germans since November 2014.
Because the negotiations do not seem to lead to the desired result, Tim Cook and a number of Apple managers recently met with representatives of BMW in Lipezig to discuss the partnership, so Apple is extremely serious about collaborating with BMW.
Tim Cook is possessor of BMW for some time and he is probably a fan of the brand as Steve Jobs was a fan of Mercedes, but this partnership is probably based on completely different considerations, the BMW i3 being a car widely appreciated by users.
Although we are not talking about a very fast car like the Tesla, which offers as much autonomy as the Tesla, the BMW i3 is a perfect car for the city thanks to its small dimensions and maximum autonomy of 150 KM that allows a driver to travel quietly anywhere in town.
Apple is mainly interested in using the carbon fiber body of the BMW i3 for its own car, but probably those from BMW are not satisfied with the conditions proposed by Apple to enter into a partnership regarding the development of the Apple car.
I did a test drive with BMW i3 last year, the car is interesting and perfect for the city, but for me the main problem was the autonomy of 150 KM which makes it practically useless for traveling in the country because charging the battery becomes extremely difficult.
For Apple, the problem will be similar, because a Tesla car can cross almost the whole of Romania with a single charge, but a BMW i3 and other electric cars cannot do it, but the Apple company does not care about Romania, but about the USA, and there Tesla is the queen of electric cars.
If Apple manages to make its own car based on the BMW i3, but faster and with a much better autonomy, then the chances of competing with Tesla are serious, otherwise it risks bringing to the market a product, most likely expensive, which will not have the desired success.
