Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Tesla isn’t planning to release a smartphone, CEO Elon Musk said during a podcast.
- Musk said Tesla would make a phone if Google and Apple censored apps and acted as gatekeepers.
- Some pieces of the puzzle are there for a Tesla phone, but history shows that this isn’t a good idea.
Rumors and disinformation about a Tesla smartphone have been circulating for years now, but company CEO Elon Musk has addressed the topic in a recent interview.
“No, we’re not doing a phone,” Musk told comedian Joe Rogan on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. The billionaire added that Tesla was “probably” in a better position to create a non-Android and non-iOS smartphone than other companies, pointing to the automaker’s software.
“But it’s not something we wanna do unless we have to or something,” he explained.
Musk outlined what it would take for Tesla to step into the smartphone arena:
If Apple and Google slash Android started doing really bad things, like, I don’t know, censorship of apps or… just being like gatekeepers, in a really bad way, then I guess we’d make a phone (sic).
It’s worth noting that regulatory agencies around the world, most notably the European Union, ruled that Apple and Google were gatekeepers in the smartphone space to varying degrees.
The argument for and against a Tesla phone
Tesla’s entertainment system in its cars indeed provides access to a variety of apps and games, so it seems like this software could be a foundation of sorts for any future non-Android smartphone. It also stands to reason that Tesla could leverage SpaceX’s Starlink satellite service for some form of connectivity. The company is already testing a so-called direct-to-cell service for texting support and emergency alerts on T-Mobile smartphones.
In saying so, it’s far easier said than done to create a smartphone that isn’t powered by Android or iOS. Microsoft found this out the hard way with its Windows Phone platform. Microsoft struggled to court developers to make apps for its platform. Easily the biggest holdout was Google, which refused to bring the majority of its services to Microsoft’s platform. This would be a hurdle for Tesla too.
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Even basing your phone on Android isn’t a guarantee of success as Amazon found out with its 2014 Fire Phone. This handset ran a forked version of Android dubbed Fire OS. Amazon had several advantages too, including its own app store and a massive online retail footprint. That didn’t stop the Fire Phone from being a flop, although Fire OS is still used on the firm’s tablets and streaming gadgets.
We’ve also seen millions of Americans stay with Apple thanks to iMessage, even though Apple’s messaging platform now supports RCS for more modern texting between iPhones and Android phones. So this is another big obstacle facing a potential Tesla phone.
It should also go without saying that Musk’s handling of Twitter doesn’t bode well for a Tesla phone, either, as the company’s valuation has reportedly plummeted since the billionaire acquired it.
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