Apple’s Next Major Market Expansion May Be Automotive

Appleinsider’s Daniel Eran Dilger thinks that while Apple-watching pundits been focusing on living room TVs as the most likely new market for Apple to expand into, evidence suggests that the company’s next big step for iOS is more likely to involve the automotive market.

Dilger notes that Eddy Cue, Apple’s head of Internet software and services, was recently assigned ownership of the company’s Siri and Maps initiatives (formerly managed as features of iOS by the now-dismissed Scott Forstall).

Cue (known to be a car aficionado) was also this week named to the board of directors of Ferrari, which cited his experience in Internet-based commerce as a primary reason. However, Dilger observes that Cue’s executive link between Apple and maker of exotic cars isn’t the only evidence supporting the company’s move into the car market.

“I am pleased and proud to become a member of the board,” Cue commenting on his nomination to Ferrari’s board. “I have personally dreamed of owning a Ferrari since I was 8 years old and have been lucky to be an owner for the past 5 years. I continue to be awed by the world-class design and engineering that only Ferrari can do.”

Eddy Cue’s Ferrari board appointment begs the question of whether it could lead to Ferrari-themed Apple hardware products, such as Ferrari/Apple MacBooks, iPads, and iPhones, or at least more integration of Apple device connectivity in Ferrari automobiles.

Ferrari CEO Luca di Montezemolo had noted earlier this year on a visit to meet with Apple counterpart Tim Cook ath Apple’s Cupertino campus that: “Apple and Ferrari are connected by the same passion, the same love for the product, maniacal attention to technology, but also to design.”

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