Elon Musk tries to take back Apple insults, ends up insulting Apple again

Musk called Apple a ‘Tesla graveyard’ and seemed to mock the Apple Watch in his original comments

Andrew Griffin
Monday 12 October 2015 10:19 BST
Comments
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors

Elon Musk has clarified mocking comments about Apple being a “graveyard” for failed employees of his company — apparently mocking the company for something else as he did so.

Musk seemed to set himself at odds with Apple last week when he told Handelsblatt that his company “jokingly call Apple the 'Tesla Graveyard’” because people only go to Apple when they can’t make it with Musk. He also said that “cars are very complex compared to phones or smartwatches”, when asked whether an Apple car made sense, and joked “Did you ever take a look at the Apple Watch?” when asked whether the car would be

The comments were reported across the world as Musk having a dig at Apple, which looks to be aiming to become Musk’s competitor after it was once suggested that they might merge. But he addressed the apparent fallout in a series of tweets — which still managed to get some digs at Apple.

“Yo, I don’t hate Apple,” his first tweet read. “It’s a great company with a lot of talented people. I love their products and I’m glad they’re doing an [electric vehicle].”

The first tweet appeared to be a way of apologising. But it didn’t address Musk’s comment that people go to Apple when they can’t make it, and appeared to assume or imply that Apple is definitely making a car — something the company has gone to some lengths to refuse to confirm or deny.

Musk then tweeted again, referring specifically to his apparently disparaging comments about the Apple Watch.

“Regarding the watch, Jony & his team created a beautiful design, but the functionality isn’t compelling yet,” his second tweet read. “By version 3, it will be.”

Musk’s tweet repeats another concern about the Apple Watch — that it isn’t worth buying the first one of any Apple product, and that it might be worth waiting to get the new one. But that is clearly something that Apple disagrees with, and it released new software and Watch models last month, apparently showing that Apple is still focusing on the existing version of the wearable.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in