It’s easy to say that now but at the time there were obvious huge obstacles to Apple doing a great cell phone.
And not just technical; the business relationships between cellular network owners, handset manufacturers, and software companies was totally different. Apple essentially had to restructure the industry to make the iPhone what it is today.
I suspect a car would need to have a similar impact in order for Apple to succeed. They would need to launch a new kind of product that just happens to have the shape of a car.
> Someone in 2006 asked what Apple would bring to the cellphone market, too.
And that would be a fair question. The iPhone never did anything others weren't already doing, nor has Apple ever done that in recent history. They sell products not because they're better, but because they've convinced people Apple is cool.
> They sell products not because they're better, but because they've convinced people Apple is cool.
That's not why I buy Apple products. I buy them because their build quality is impeccable, their software for the most part "just works" (ok they've gotten worse in this regard lately), and all their stuff works together. Having date move magically between my devices without doing anything is really compelling.
You seem to have confused not paying attention with nothing happening. The carrier relationship was completely different for iPhone users, starting with how you didn't need carrier approval to put something in the App Store.
I think you underestimate how bad the competition has usually been. Apple is bad but the competition is usually terrible. Tech stuff has always had a pretty low bar, especially for actually working without a huge amount of sysadmin.
The issue with Apple and the automotive market is the units don't have enough turnover for Apple's business model to thrive.