April Fools’ is the day that a lot of tech companies announce fake products to get a laugh. Some are good, but most suck.
Tesla has arguably won April Fools’ Day this year with its spoof of the Apple Watch.
Named the Tesla Model W, the imaginary timepiece “doesn’t just tell the time, it also tells the date. What’s more, it is infinitely adjustable, able to tell the time no matter where you are on Earth. Japan, Timbuktu, California, anywhere! This will change your life. Reality as you know it will never be the same.”
As you may know, Tesla and Apple are currently in the midst of an intense bidding war for talent (Tesla is winning). And coincidentally, rumors surfaced that Apple is working on an electric car after Tesla open-sourced all of its patents.
So if Apple can make a car, Tesla can make a watch, right? The playful acknowledgment of the impending rivalry between the two companies is what makes the joke so great.
But of course, “this is in no way a competitive response to what some other company is doing,” according to Tesla’s blog. Suuuure.
Tesla's April fool actually moved its stock a bit, see late spike in volume https://t.co/9ko5s8P1W1 h/t @zzbar $TSLA pic.twitter.com/MrD4RfGZGh
— Tim Bradshaw (@tim) April 1, 2015
