The White House Allowed Tesla to Sell Directly in All 50 States

By Jeff John Roberts at GigaOm: 


A petition asking the Obama Administration “to allow Tesla Motors to sell directly to consumers in all 50 states” finally received an official response this week, but the answer will likely disappointment fans of the car maker.

As Jalopnik reports, the White House wrote, “as you know, laws regulating auto sales are issues that have traditionally sat with lawmakers at the state level” — meaning that Tesla will not be getting any high-level help fighting laws that block the direct sale of cars like Tesla Motor’s electric Model S.

States like New Jersey and Texas have passed such laws, which are widely viewed as a means to protect the auto industry’s longtime franchise dealer model. This means that, while Telsa can open “experience outlets” that show off its cars, it can’t actually sell them through these outlets.

Tesla filed its petition in June 2013, and soon received more than 100,000 signatures, which is the level at which the White House is obliged to offer an official response.

While the Administration’s framing of auto sale regulation as a state issue is not surprising, Tesla boosters will be disappointed that it did not call on Congress to look at the issue.

Tesla Pays Telefonica To Power In-Car Wireless in Europe

By Ingrid Lunden at TechCrunch:


Those with a sharp eye who visited the Geneva motor show or who own a Model S in Europe may have already noticed a connection between Telefonica and Tesla by way of the “car connected by Telefonica” signs on the sides of cars, or through the in-car navigation system that played Spanish ads. Now the two are making it official: Telefonica says that it will be providing the wireless connectivity for Tesla cars across the UK, Germany, Netherlands and Spain, covering telematics and infotainment services.

This is not the first carrier deal for Tesla in Europe; in November 2013 it announced a deal with Telia Sonera for the carrier to power in-car systems in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Estonia and Latvia.

But Telefonica tells me it is likely the biggest in terms of geographical footprint and customers: Tesla paid Telefonica “millions” to seal the deal, a spokesperson tells me.

It follows another, similar carrier deal Tesla inked with AT&T in January of this year.

In terms of how it will work for users, it is not unlike Amazon’s Kindle service: users get a wireless connection as part of their purchase of the item (in this case a car), without having to sign a separate contract for that connection. The service is powered by Jasper and will provide the Internet connectivity for various in-car “infotainment” and telematics, including navigation, streamed music, Internet browsing and remote vehicle diagnostics.




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What If Apple Bought Tesla?

Rumors about Apple showing interest in buying Tesla have resurfaced after the SF Chronicle reported that Apple’s M&A chief met with Elon Musk last spring. Considering Tesla’s market capitalization of more than $24 billion, such a deal would be unprecedented for Apple, but the two companies do appear to have a lot of potential synergy.

As a thought experiment, let’s take a look at a few of the reasons Apple acquiring Tesla might make sense.

Apple has the cash for it

Apple still hasn’t found an ideal solution for its $160 billion cash hoard. Over the past year, the company has bought back $40 billion of its own shares, with plans to repurchase an additional $20 billion. That’s more than enough to have purchased Tesla outright. While there’s a certain sensible arrogance for a healthy company like Apple believing that repurchasing its own stock is the best investment of its cash, Tesla is poised for near-limitless growth if it can disrupt the automobile industry.

A trillion dollar opportunity and a “new product category”

The car market represents exactly the kind of industry that Apple would be interested in – high-value and slow to innovate. Tesla’s Model S could make the same kind of shake-up that the iPhone inflicted upon the mobile phone industry when it arrived in 2007.

Investors have been unhappy with slowing growth rates for Apple’s iPhone and iPad businesses, and the Mac seems destined to become a niche device. The company needs a new market to go after to keep up its impressive gains and win back investors.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has repeatedly mentioned the company’s interest in expanding to new product categories. While automobiles might seem far-flung from consumer electronics, cars have actually become the ultimate gadgets. The connected car has been a hot sector for tech companies as they work with manufacturers to incorporate software and hardware into vehicles. Apple announced its “iOS in the car” initiative at WWDC last year to bring its mobile OS into dashboard systems.

Sure, Apple could get into the TV or wearable categories, but wouldn’t electric cars be so much more fun?



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