Apple’s (AAPL) influence over Samsung (005930) smartphones was fairly obvious to a jury in San Jose, but it looks like Apple’s reach extends far beyond smartphones, tablets and retail stores. According to a BMW executive, Apple also had a hand in shaping the automotive industry. BMW Designworks lead designer Sandy McGill says silver has been the top color for cars in the United States for the past decade. In 2012, however, silver was finally replaced by white as the most popular color for cars, and the BMW executive attributes the shift to Apple and its late co-founder Steve Jobs. “Prior to Apple, white was associated with things like refrigerators or the tiles in your bathroom,” McGill told Motoramic in an interview. “Apple made white valuable.”

[Via Fortune]

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