Are Tesla Motors & Apple joining forces?

If you’re betting any real money, it’s probably best to keep Benjamin Franklin housed comfortably in your wallet or money clip. The answer appears to be no, according to analysts. Jerry Hirsch of The LA Times cited one specific reason for the unlikely alliance between the tech giant and the electric car company in his article, “Tesla Motors closes at record after Apple merger rumor surfaces.”

Tuesday’s closing stock price left Tesla with a market valuation of $25 billion, about $1.1 million for each of the 22,450 Model S cars it sold last year. The cars sell for $70,000 to $100,000, depending on options.

And that market valuation doesn’t include any premium Apple would have to toss in as part of an acquisition.

“Apple does not have a history of paying massive premiums,” Irwin said.

While this partnership seems like a futuristic dream amongst tech geeks and visionary opportunists, it doesn’t hurt to ponder how this relationship could be translated into a feasible vision…

Cost would undeniably be one of the primary concerns surrounding the design, construction and maintenance of a car that would feature high-quality and cutting-edge components from both Tesla and Apple. These two companies prefer to only the best materials. That’s okay, but there needs to be an outlet for those who don’t live a Hollywood lifestyle.

Speaking of outlets and lifestyle…

One solution (just one) to the cost issue is to require the user of the car to own an iPhone or an iPad (or, for convenience and price, both).

Why?

Imagine a car that is immediately personalized to the driver with the simple plugging-in of your phone and/or tablet? The center console would be partially empty, ready for the driver to insert his or her iPhone and/or iPad in the appropriate spots to function and bring to life the center console/the “heart” of the car. All of the music and preferences would instantly download from the connected phone and/or tablet (if you don’t own either a phone or a tablet, then that could be inserted and preset for your preferences by Tesla’s Apple or whatever name they decide on for their joint venture). The temperature, seat warmers, air conditioning system, etc. would be built in around the vacancy left for the phone and tablet.

Of course, with this being a car, there would be voice-activation control and navigation capability to strongly encourage and help prevent people from scrolling and tapping with their fingers while driving. Still, the usual functions of Apple products would apply with the touch features.

Here’s the catch:

An iPhone and/or iPad must be preset for the car to recognize that specific device(s) with a sign-in requiring a preset finger print scan. There would likely be many more additional safety and identity precautions (passwords, firewall features) and protections, but these are just two necessary starting points.

Plus, like any Apple device, it will charge when it’s plugged in, which resolves the problem of a phone or tablet running out of battery life while driving.

Admittedly, this would certainly accelerate the prospect of cars virtually becoming computers on wheels. Is that good or bad? There are valid points for both.

Regarding the fuel aspect, that is still obviously “TBD.” The assumption is that Tesla and Apple would create an emissions-free, electric battery of some sort. This is where the equation (predictably) gets cloudy and pricey at the inception of development. Plus, there are the questions of testing, safety, performance, infrastructure and so forth.

For right now though, imagine the iPhone and iPad concept.

Talk about each person driving their own iCar/iJimmy/iYour Name…