When talking about innovation, there’s no doubt that one of the first companies that comes to mind is tech giant Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). And it’s not that surprising considering that ever since it launched its very first product, the company has been leading the way in the technological revolution front.
From the Apple II to the Mac, to the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad, Apple’s products have been and remain highly anticipated. It goes without saying that most of the time the iPhone maker knows how to amaze its customers. Although, there have also been a few products that were not as spectacular as people were led to believe.
Nonetheless, Cupertino still has a great record when it comes to innovation. So with that in mind, you would expect that the very first to claim the company will continue with its ‘winning streak’ would be one of its own. Yet, that apparently isn’t so.
In a recent interview, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak revealed something quite interesting. He told Bloomberg Canada, that the next ‘moonshot’ or great innovation will not come from Apple but from Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA). According to Wozniak, who is a Tesla owner and fan, the electric car maker has “put an awful lot of effort into very risky things,” which in turn have pushed the company forward.
Woz did not arrive at this assessment lightly, of course. He explained that Tesla’s rise had a lot to do with the fact that the company started with a product that its founder and CEO, Elon Musk, liked very much. And that probably made all the difference.
As he very eloquently put it, and obviously referring to Tesla’s Model S: “It was really built for Elon’s own life… what car would he like? And when things come from yourself, knowing what you want in life very much and being in control of it, not letting others get every little aspect in, that’s where you get the best products; and by best we often mean high performance but also very beautiful…they have to speak for themselves.”
Wozniak, who previously has said that Tesla is the “biggest disrupter” in the marketplace, also added that the company’s initiative worked because ‘it fit one person’s ideal’ of a device that’s most ‘beautiful, elegant and simple to use’.
Tesla is known for being an electric vehicle (EV) maker. But unlike other auto makers who simply incorporated the EV technology into their existing vehicles, Tesla did everything from scratch. In other words, Tesla’s cars were designed to be electric from the start. And this is the most differentiating factor that other car makers are having a hard time topping.
There’s also the matter of Elon Musk being one of the most highly regarded visionaries of our time-with his outrageous ideas of boring tunnels, colonizing Mars, providing global Internet service, traffic-less transportation, the Hyperloop, merging the brain with AI, and many other ventures.
It should be noted that Wozniak isn’t discounting Apple’s capabilities, not in the least. But being an innovator himself, and after everything that Apple has accomplished, maybe he’s just insightful enough to know that Cupertino just can’t match up with what Tesla is doing right now. But everything changes, right? So maybe time will come when Apple and its stock will be able to outdo every ticker and everyone else again. That may be wishful thinking at this point, but hey, one can always hope.
In the meantime, you can watch Wozniak’s full Bberg Canada interview.
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