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Steve Jobs wanted to build 'iCar,' Apple board member says

 

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J. Crew CEO and Apple board member Mickey Drexler claims that the tech giant's co-founder Steve Jobs had aspirations of designing a full-fledged automobile.

During a recent interview with Fast Company's Innovation Uncensored conference this week, Drexler said that Jobs wanted to build a so-called "iCar" before his death in 2011.

"Look at the car industry, it's a tragedy in America. Who's designing the cars?" Drexler said. "Steve's dream before he died was to design an iCar and I think it would've been probably 50% of the market. He never did design it."

Drexler also alluded to the much-rumored Apple television, saying that the company would be "dealing with" the living room at some point in the near future. It is unclear whether the board member has any specific information regarding a release, and his statement is most likely based on speculation.

The J. Crew chief also said that he wouldn't want to be in Tim Cook's shoes because it is more difficult to take the reins of an already-successful company that one that is failing.

Drexler, who has been a member of Apple's board since 1999, was formerly the CEO of clothing brand Gap before being fired in 2002. He was subsequently hired by J. Crew and has been attempting to rebrand the company as a high-end American fashion boutique.



95 Comments

tallest skil 14 Years · 43086 comments

"Steve wanted to do something, but he didn't."

 

And somehow that's news? I'm certain he wanted to make a car, but that's not Apple's forte, nor was it critically important.

 

Quote:

Drexler also alluded to the much-rumored Apple television, saying that the company would be "dealing with" the living room at some point in the near future.

 

In other news, Drexler has been ousted from the Apple board of directors.

 

So, given that there are no links in this article that allow us to see what he really said, could you explain how this alludes to the television in any way?

boriscleto 13 Years · 159 comments

If Microsoft Built Cars… 
1. Every time they repainted the lines on the road, you’d have to buy a new car.
2. Occasionally your car would just die on the motorway for no reason, and you’d have to restart it. For some strange reason, you’d just accept this, restart and drive on.
3. Your car would inexplicably get slower over time and, every 3-6 months, it would simply grind to halt and fail to restart. At this point, you’d have to reinstall the engine. For some strange reason, you’d just accept this too.
4. Apple would make a car that was powered by the sun, was three times more reliable, fast, and easy to drive–but most people wouldn’t know it or believe it.
5. Apple car owners would get expensive Microsoft upgrades to their cars which would make their cars go much slower.
6. Microsoft would replace the oil, engine, gas and alternator warning lights with a single “General Car Fault” warning light.
7. People would get excited about the “new” features in Microsoft cars, not knowing that they had been available in Apple’s cars for many years.
8. Microsoft cars would come with 5-year-old Apple car paint jobs, but they’d be the same crappy Microsoft car underneath.
9. If you were involved in a crash, you’d have no idea what happened.
10. Before deploying, the airbag system would ask “Cancel or Allow?”

tallest skil 14 Years · 43086 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by boriscleto 
Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads."

 

That was a lot of extra formatting code. 

 

For an iCar, I'd imagine the frame would be made of one piece of aluminum and the door seams wouldn't be visible when they're shut… 

 

Lights would be handled by strips of LEDs instead of single lights… I wonder if I could mock that up… 

 

nano-engineered-audi-a9-futuristic-car-03.jpg

 

Can't mock it up… BUT, lights like the back strip here, except all the way around the vehicle at that same thickness. So when you're turning left, the entire left half of the strip will blink. When you're braking, the entire back half of the strip will be red. And the strip wouldn't have to be fully horizontal; you could design the vehicle around the lighting. 

 

Anyone else with iCar ideas?

mstone 18 Years · 11503 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil 

So, given that there are no links in this article that allow us to see what he really said, could you explain how this alludes to the television in any way?

Link IS in the article but the comments are in the video so you can find out exactly what he said by clicking the play button.

jason98 14 Years · 768 comments

With $100B in pocket and much expertise in Li-Ion battery chemistry and management they can certainly disrupt the auto industry too.