The yacht that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs helped to design has been unveiled in the Netherlands just over a year after his death.
The building of the yacht was something of a pet project for Jobs and had been in the works for over five years.
Designed with the help of the acclaimed French product designer Philippe Starck and built by Dutch custom yacht builder Feadship, the 80-meter-long vessel is made with lightweight aluminum and features 3-meter-high clear glass windows as well as a large number of 27-inch iMacs on the deck. Sounds like a floating Apple store, some might say. Indeed, according to Walter Isaacson’s biography of Jobs published shortly after his death in October 2011, the former Apple CEO called on the skills of the chief engineer responsible for the Apple stores, asking him to design special glass that would be able to provide structural support for the vessel.
Named Venus after the Roman goddess of love, the unusual looking boat – whose design will certainly not be to everyone’s taste – was reportedly unveiled at a special ceremony in Aalsmeer in the Netherlands on Sunday. Jobs’ widow Laurene and children Reed, Erin and Eve were at the launch.
Speaking to the BBC about the vessel, Starck said, “Steve and I shared the same idea about the elegance of the minimal, the elegance of work well done,” while at the same time admitting that it does “look strange for a boat.”
In Isaacson’s biography, the Apple co-founder said that despite being seriously ill with pancreatic cancer, he couldn’t suddenly stop working on the design of the boat.
“I know that it’s possible I will die and leave Laurene with a half-built boat,” he told Isaacson, “But I have to keep going on it. If I don’t, it’s an admission that I’m about to die.”
It’s not clear when Venus will make its maiden voyage, or indeed what plans the Jobs family has for the vessel, though we guess at some point it’ll be transported to a location close to their California home.
[Top image and video: onemorething.nl]
How can someone supposedly so focused on design have something this ugly built?
a fitting tribute to one of America’s greediest men in America… And apple still sucks…
See what you can buy with chinese slave labor… Apple is rotten to the core…
Fer cryin’ out loud! Give the man a break! He earned the right to do whatever he wanted with his money. If you had that kind of cash, you’d probably spend some on thrills, too. Enough already!
Hope the chinese slaves he drove to suicide gave him a greeting @ the pearly gates…
Say what you want about Mr. Jobs but 500 years from now, history will remember him, and only him, from this time period.
I must truly thank him for building an awesome company with products that are cherished by their owners. I also thank him for making enough profit to keep the company healthy, R&D for the future, and investors satisfied! I will retire in style thanks to Steve!
I heard the yacht described as simple, to which one person asked “when has a yacht ever been simple?”. I thought it was funny, but when you see the video, I realize that as far as luxury yachts go, it is simple. Seems he managed elude the ostentatious norm in design, and make it a model of simple is better, which goes lock and step with the products he oversaw.
It’s beautiful! Wish we could get a tour of the inside of it.
I also think a lot of people seem to have these overblown, misinformed views of who Steve Jobs was, and how he got there. I suggest reading his biography, even if doubt they ever will.
Watch the Pirates of Silicon Valley if you want to see a realistic view of Steve Jobs. Not to speak ill of the dead, but he was a real sh1thead to work for, that’s a very well documented fact. Accomplished to be absolutely sure. But a sh1thead.
the iYacht??
Oh, yeah he hated capitalism alright…
I wonder who will go down in history as the greatest Apple Hater.
An abortion as bad as the new cruise ships not even the appearance of a ship. Designed by a would be ship builder with no sense of what it takes to be a ship designer, should have stayed with what he knew best.
They say there’s 2 days you remember most as a proud boat owner; the day you bring that shiny beaut home (or in this case go to see the hulking mass), and then the day you sell the POS.
AFAIC, it’s a Samsung/Google world now. AAPL left the building with Steve (and I give the man credit for all he built even though I did not like his personality).