Elon Musk recently made the crazy statement that it’s likely “X could become 50% of the worlds financial system”. Long time Tesla watchers know better than to take this seriously since we’ve seen this same show played over and over. You have to keep in mind how Musk operates.
In 2019 when Tesla was weeks away from bankruptcy, Musk said that people could earn money while taking a nap because their Tesla could operate as a robotaxi. Or when Musk was trying to convince Tesla shareholders to approve the acquisition of SolarCity he stood on stage and unveiled a beautiful small solar tile that looked like a regular shingle . No, neither of these exist and never will. They were lies to raise money from investors.
So forgive me for rolling my eyes when Musk makes another grandiose promise for the future. Especially when it’s coming from a platform that is already behind everyone else and has a relatively small user base. Apple has never stated any desire to become the everything anything. And yet, they’ve made a pretty good start at doing exactly that.
When it comes to money, you need to offer the public a rock solid platform that is fully encrypted and not open to snooping. Apple has that with iMessage. But wait that’s not all. Apple already has person to person currency transfers via Apple Pay. And after they established that, they started offering credit card services and now even savings accounts. Twitter, or X, has yet to accomplish any of this.
And everything Musk does is always half-assed. It’s never high quality. But it’s one thing to deliver glitchy cars with crooked body panels, it’s another thing to screw up people’s banks accounts. You don’t mess with people’s money. And Musk being Musk, always forces his people to choose quick and easy routes which lead to lower quality.
And before anyone tries to use Tesla as an example of how Musk muscled his way into playing with the big boys of an unwelcoming industry. Try again. Because Tesla’s market share in the auto industry is tiny. And you could make the case that Tesla only exists due to the government subsidies it receives. And Consumer Reports still ranks Tesla as among the worst fit & finish of all cars produced and terrible customer service. You could also make a strong case that people hold their noses and buy a glitchy Tesla only because of the Supercharger system which helps alleviate range anxiety. But Tesla is losing this valuable moat that help protect their EV market share in the past.
I’m not trying to make the case that Apple is on the way to becoming the global financial superpower through which 50% of all commerce flows. I’m simply trying to contrast how far behind X is and how unlikely Musk’s fantasies will ever come true. They are already behind companies other tech behemoths. And judging by their shrinking user base and advertising roster, they’re losing more clout by the day.
So forgive me for rolling my eyes when Musk makes another grandiose promise for the future. Especially when it’s coming from a platform that is already behind everyone else and has a relatively small user base. Apple has never stated any desire to become the everything anything. And yet, they’ve made a pretty good start at doing exactly that.
When it comes to money, you need to offer the public a rock solid platform that is fully encrypted and not open to snooping. Apple has that with iMessage. But wait that’s not all. Apple already has person to person currency transfers via Apple Pay. And after they established that, they started offering credit card services and now even savings accounts. Twitter, or X, has yet to accomplish any of this.
And everything Musk does is always half-assed. It’s never high quality. But it’s one thing to deliver glitchy cars with crooked body panels, it’s another thing to screw up people’s banks accounts. You don’t mess with people’s money. And Musk being Musk, always forces his people to choose quick and easy routes which lead to lower quality.
And before anyone tries to use Tesla as an example of how Musk muscled his way into playing with the big boys of an unwelcoming industry. Try again. Because Tesla’s market share in the auto industry is tiny. And you could make the case that Tesla only exists due to the government subsidies it receives. And Consumer Reports still ranks Tesla as among the worst fit & finish of all cars produced and terrible customer service. You could also make a strong case that people hold their noses and buy a glitchy Tesla only because of the Supercharger system which helps alleviate range anxiety. But Tesla is losing this valuable moat that help protect their EV market share in the past.
I’m not trying to make the case that Apple is on the way to becoming the global financial superpower through which 50% of all commerce flows. I’m simply trying to contrast how far behind X is and how unlikely Musk’s fantasies will ever come true. They are already behind companies other tech behemoths. And judging by their shrinking user base and advertising roster, they’re losing more clout by the day.
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