What's the news?
Apple, yes that Apple - the one that makes the phone you're statistically quite likely to be using right now - is apparently considering bidding for the commercial rights to Formula One. While that may sound like the most ludicrous story of all time, it seems to have at least a little basis in fact, although the likelihood of it happening is at best distant.
Here's what we know. Formula One is up for sale. The current rights holder, financial giant CVC Capital Partners, is keen to sell its stake in the sport and, frankly, the sport is keen to see the back of CVC. The investment house has long been accused of squeezing the sport for maximum cashflow while allowing smaller teams to suffer and indeed fall by the wayside, not to mention overseeing the propagation of rules, which are now widely considered unappealing to viewers and fans.
Bernie Ecclestone, the octogenarian ruler of Formula One for the past four decades, has previously confirmed that the rights are up for grabs and that a figure of $8.5-billion would be enough to convince CVC to hand over the keys.
But Apple? The story has been kicked into life by Joe Saward, a long-time and much-respected F1 and motor sports writer, who says that Apple is keen on the idea of being the commercial rights holder not only to promote its own automotive ambitions but also as a way of driving sales of its Apple TV system. "Apple is on the verge of launching into the world's automotive markets, with an electric car that remains a secret, although it is hard to hide such a project when you hire more than a thousand engineers to work on it," wrote Saward in his blog post. "The Apple Car is expected to appear by 2020. Thus, there are three elements that would make the purchase of F1 a logical step for Apple. It can afford it, it can boost sales of Apple TVs and get people thinking about Apple in relation to cars."
Apple has had a decent few months with its TV streaming device, which allows owners to play their iTunes film and music purchases through their television, but it's still lagging behind rivals such as Google and Amazon with their Chromecast and Fire Stick devices.
According to Forbes Magazine, an Apple buyout of F1 (and Apple with its USD$161-billion in ready cash could easily afford it) would make sense both as a promotional tool and a necessary expansion of its services beyond apps, phones and computers. F1 is a minnow compared to Apple's tech sales, but a steady revenue stream of more than $1-billion a year is not to be sniffed at, even if the sport would need significant early investment to rebuild its dwindling fan base. Forbes comments that "further inspection shows it might make some sense - and could actually happen under the right conditions."
The plot surrounding the Apple Car has thickened somewhat this week, as the Wall Street Journal reports that Bob Mansfield has been appointed as a senior manager for Project Titan as the car project is known within Apple. Mansfield, who had stepped away from his day-to-day work at Apple some time ago, was the man who oversaw development of such products as the MacBook Air, the iMac and the original iPad. Apple has also previously hired former Ford designer Marc Newson, who created the O21C concept car, to apparently style the car. Earlier this year, another former Ford employee who had been in a senior position in the Apple Car project, Steve Zadesky, left for still-undisclosed reasons. Mansfield has proved himself to be an expert troubleshooter in the past, and his appointment may well bring some much-needed focus to a project which some insiders claim has thus far failed to find its feet.
However, some experts have predicted all along that what Apple is working on is not a physical car as such, or at least not one that will be sold to the public, but a series of enhanced and legislation-proofed interactivity and connectivity apps, software and even hardware that will allow it to become part of the autonomous car revolution. Would an F1 purchase be any good for promoting those? Probably less so, but it's still a fascinating possibility.