Daisuke Wakabayashi writing for the WSJ:

Steve Zadesky, a 16-year Apple veteran who has been overseeing its electric-car project for the last two years, has told people he is leaving the company. The timing of his departure isn’t clear. He is still at Apple for now.

Joe Rossignol writing for MacRumors:

Apple’s electric vehicle could be approved for production by 2020, but some employees reportedly believe it “might take several more years” for the iPhone maker to develop a truly differentiated electric vehicle. The project has encountered some challenges internally due to a lack of clear goals, according to the report.

Jordan Golson writing for The Verge:

“While the departure of Apple’s head of automobile efforts may seem like a blow, the reality is Apple has enough money and potential to bring in almost anyone they desire,” says Akshay Anand, analyst with Kelley Blue Book. “This shouldn’t railroad Apple’s efforts and the rumors that they are indeed focused on becoming a player in the automotive space.”

I still struggle to picture, both visually and conceptually, the rumored Apple Car. The car does seem to be the ultimate product in the sense that almost everyone could use one, it’s expensive, and it takes huge amounts of manufacturing and technical expertise to create. However, cars have got many aspects that Apple eschew: it’s highly regulated, it’s highly competitive, and the margins are low (compared to the iPhone).

If Apple truly are entering the car market and they behave the same way they did with the iPhone, they must have an innovation which will allow them to be truly different from the competition and command a high-margin. Because Apple don’t make commodity PCs or phones, it’s safe to assume they won’t make commodity cars, so the high-margin won’t be because of low-cost, it’ll be because of a high-price.

Should this be the case, I think this innovation will be so extreme as to make the cars that Apple make resemble little the cars we know. It won’t be enough that they’re electric, because Tesla do that, or that they’re slickly designed, because many high-end cars are. To me, it seems “personal transport” may be a better label than “car”, because I’d be underwhelmed by an Apple that enters a commodity market with a commodity (or near) product.