Elon Musk doesn’t think that Apple products “blow people’s minds” in the same way that they did at one point in time.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO briefly shared his thoughts on the company during an hour-long interview with Recode‘s Kara Swisher. While Musk noted that he still uses an iPhone, he also gave the impression that he views Apple as a company whose most exciting days may not be ahead of it.
“There’s not many products you can buy that really make you happier,” Musk said. “Apple did that for a long time, I still think, obviously, that Apple makes great phones … I still use an iPhone and everything, but Apple used to really bring out products that would blow people’s minds, you know? [Apple] still [makes] great products, but there’s less of that.”
Musk then suggested that fans might not be “running to the store for the iPhone 11,” casting it as a product which is less exciting than the cars that Tesla is building right now.
Apple vs. Elon
Musk has often been likened to Steve Jobs in terms of being a CEO with world-changing ambitions. Pundits have also on occasion suggested that Tesla would be a good acquisition for Apple, particularly now that Apple is interested in entering the automotive market.
Perhaps because of this budding competition, Musk has sometimes spoken harshly of Apple in interviews. In one previous interview he called Apple the “Tesla Graveyard.” “If you don’t make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple,” he said. “I’m not kidding.” He has also suggested that an Apple Car will come too late to make a major difference.
Musk has also described Steve Jobs as “kind of a jerk,” an opinion he suggests was shared by a lot of other people who met Steve. However, in the same interview he backed off on the comments, saying that, “You know, it’s better if I don’t say anything on [the Apple] front. My point is, there’s no upside in generating animosity. It’s not that I care about currying favor with Apple or anything like that, but I don’t care to generate animosity.”
Source: Recode
