Comments on: Fiat’s 500C the Makings of an Apple iCar http://gigaom.com/2009/12/02/fiats-500c-the-makings-of-an-apple-icar/ Fri, 24 May 2013 09:22:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Daddy, can I have the keys to the car? « The Lo Life… http://gigaom.com/2009/12/02/fiats-500c-the-makings-of-an-apple-icar/#comment-375610 Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:56:01 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/?p=36867#comment-375610 [...] she is 16 and comes asking “Daddy, can I have the keys to the car”? or Hoovercraft, iCar, or whatever flying saucer like thing we might be driving.  As the old ladies we meet always say; [...]

]]> By: Charles W. Moore http://gigaom.com/2009/12/02/fiats-500c-the-makings-of-an-apple-icar/#comment-375609 Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:57:28 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/?p=36867#comment-375609 Howdy;

Steve Jobs is actually known to be a car buff of long standing with a taste for German iron, and is on-record using automotive analogies himself in discussing corporate governance and product development modalities. Check out this TIME magazine interview from 2005:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1118384,00.html

Also, remember that Steve himself is an ideas and concepts guy — not a designer. In recent years at Apple that’s been Jonathan Ive and with any iCar project the design work would be done by someone else.

As for me — lifelong consummate car buff, and also made my living for several years a long tim ago as an auto mechanic, so I think I have a few clues about how cars are designed and made.

Automobile design, and indeed design in general are particular personal interests of mine. For example:
http://www.ontariosdc.ca/content/view/40/47/

CM

]]> By: Gazoobee http://gigaom.com/2009/12/02/fiats-500c-the-makings-of-an-apple-icar/#comment-375608 Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:43:41 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/?p=36867#comment-375608 This whole article is based on a series of misunderstandings about how cars are designed and made, what Steve Jobs talents are, and how products are designed at Apple.

If a car company wanted to design the “iCar” or the car of the future with all the green tech that will take the world by storm, they’d be far better off hiring Dean Kamen than Steve Jobs.

Automobiles and computers have very, very little in common as design problems. Steve Jobs could and possibly did give the guy insight into company organisation, but he knows nothing about cars and wouldn’t be the right guy to ask. I would bet he even said the same thing himself at the meeting.

]]> By: skellyrocker http://gigaom.com/2009/12/02/fiats-500c-the-makings-of-an-apple-icar/#comment-375607 Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:55:16 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/?p=36867#comment-375607 Fiat has a lot of work to do in the UK to revive its image a a piece of junk. The 500 is quirky but give me my Mini Cooper anyday. I would thik less of Apple if they got into bed with a company who (while designing fairly goo looking cars) lacks in build qaulity and the specification of what’s under the hood.

]]> By: Eideard http://gigaom.com/2009/12/02/fiats-500c-the-makings-of-an-apple-icar/#comment-375606 Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:39:21 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/?p=36867#comment-375606 I’m not at all confidant that Fiat 500 would be at all successful as a mainstream American car. It should be, it would be – if we had any sense.

Anyone out there accusing American auto consumers of having overriding common sense?

]]> By: Charles W. Moore http://gigaom.com/2009/12/02/fiats-500c-the-makings-of-an-apple-icar/#comment-375605 Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:47:26 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/?p=36867#comment-375605 I prefer a standard stickshift with a clutch pedal, given my ‘druthers, but the Fiat 500C will also be available with Dualogic – a clutchless, 5-speed sequential manual shift with a selectable fully automatic mode offered as an optional transmission on all gasoline-engined Fiat 500 models. This automated transmission system also lays the foundations for more intelligent engine operation management with lower fuel consumption and reduced CO2 emissions of only 110 g/km. The advanced system uses the automatic clutch to disengage the engine from the transmission whenever traction is not required, and switches the engine off, with automatic restarting on demand.

Charles Moore

]]> By: Road-Runner http://gigaom.com/2009/12/02/fiats-500c-the-makings-of-an-apple-icar/#comment-375604 Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:39:20 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/?p=36867#comment-375604 It appears the new generation Fiat 500 is doing to Fiat what the first iPod did to Apple: It brought it back to the mainstream. I guess it was just a matter of time before Apple technology found its way into cars and the (deservedly) popular Fiat 500 seems as good a car to start with as any. In time, such technology would be bound to spread to other models – namely Fiat (Alfa Romeo, Lancia) and before long to Chrysler (Dodge, Jeep), the same way Apple extended the range of iPods and applied the same philosophy to its range of computers and all other things Apple.
Think back last year at Detroit Auto Show 2008, when Chrysler presented its Chrysler 200C concept car, with iPhone inspired touchscreen dashboard… See where I’m getting at!? First in a Fiat, and down the road, in a Chrysler! ;o)
Being both an Apple and a Chrysler fan, I certainly like the idea.
P.S.: Also, knowing a little about Walter P. Chrysler’s life and times, it occurs to me that maybe he and Steve Jobs were not all that different.

]]> By: Rob http://gigaom.com/2009/12/02/fiats-500c-the-makings-of-an-apple-icar/#comment-375603 Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:55:10 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/?p=36867#comment-375603 My wife has a Fiat 500 (I’m in the UK). Great car and a hoot to drive. It’s only the 1.4 litre Sporting model (100bhp) but a great combination of style and (nearly enough) power.

There may be a problem with this suggestion…

On the rear end of the centre console, between the seats there’s a USB socket. Next to the USB socket is a “Powered by Windows” sticker.

Aaaaaaargh!!!

If the car won’t start, you have to close any open windows :-)

]]> By: Quiviran http://gigaom.com/2009/12/02/fiats-500c-the-makings-of-an-apple-icar/#comment-375602 Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:30:52 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/?p=36867#comment-375602 Oops,

http://green.autoblog.com/2008/05/26/video-fiat-phylla-powered-by-sunshine/

]]> By: Quiviran http://gigaom.com/2009/12/02/fiats-500c-the-makings-of-an-apple-icar/#comment-375601 Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:27:06 +0000 http://theappleblog.com/?p=36867#comment-375601 This is the iCar, IMHO.

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