Elon Musk wants Tesla and Solar City to do something that would make Steve Jobs proud

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is often compared to the late Steve Jobs, as a Silicon Alley visionary. But Musk is much more a technologist than Jobs ever was.

In an important way, however, he has learned a valuable lesson from Jobs.

On a Monday call with analysts after the official offer for Tesla to acquire SolarCity for $2.6 billion was announced, Tesla and SolarCity executives, including Musk, answered questions.

Musk said something very reminiscent of the Apple leader, speaking of the solar panels, storage batteries, and chargers that Tesla-SolarCity will install in customers homes.

"We want them to be beautiful," Musk said. "We want you to call your neighbors over and show them how proud you are."

Jobs was obsessed with the aesthetics of Apple products. Musk has always believed that Tesla's cars should be very sexy.

But now he's taking it to the next level.