APPLE IS WORKING ON AN ELECTRIC CAR

Reports have surfaced claiming the company that brought us the iPhone is now researching its own electric car.

"People familiar with the matter" told The Wall Street Journal that Apple has hundreds of employees working on an automobile dubbed Project Titan. Separately the Financial Times published a report claiming that the company had hundreds of employees at a secret location designing automotive products and possibly even a car.

Rumors to the effect that Apple is working on a car have been floating around Silicon Valley for some time, and the latest round of reports share some similarities with previous speculation. There have been many sightings of a van registered to Apple with some odd equipment mounted on the roof, and one WSJ source claimed that Project Titan looked like a minivan.

Both the Financial Times and WSJ report that vice president of product design Steve Zadesky is taking the lead and, though the two disagree on exactly when the automotive research lab began, both say work began some time last year.

This makes the speculation a bit more credible, but why would the company jump into the auto industry now? Apple has declined to comment on the rumors, but one analyst points out that the company has plenty of motive for wanting their secret to get out. Apple had a record holiday quarter that could leave investors wondering if the company has any room to grow.

Producing an electronic car would also put Apple on similar footing to its tech rivals Google and Sony, as the former recently showed off its self-driving car prototype, and the latter just acquired a two percent stake in Japanese robot car startup ZMP.