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Apple Board Member Mickey Drexler on Steve Jobs' iCar Dreams, Apple's Living Room Push

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apple_car.jpg
Speaking at Fast Company's Innovation Uncensored conference earlier this week, J. Crew CEO and Apple board member Mickey Drexler shared his thoughts (via Business Insider) on several topics related to Apple, including Steve Jobs' dream to build an "iCar" that would have revolutionized the automobile industry. While the idea obviously never developed very far, it is an intriguing glimpse into Jobs' interests and ambitions.

Drexler also mentioned in passing that Apple will be making a push into the living room "in the near future", fueling further interest in and speculation on an Apple television set and perhaps ultimately content deals that could remake how television content is consumed.
Look at the car business – it's a tragedy in America. Who's designing the cars? They talk about expense, they talk about this, and then you say 'Who's designing the cars?'

Steve's dream before he died was to design an iCar. It would have been probably 50% of the market. He never did design it. In the fashion business, you know, Apple has ten products and then they leave alone...the living room they're dealing with at some point in the near future.
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Drexler closed with a quip about how difficult it is to take over a company that is doing well, comparing his move to take over struggling J. Crew nearly a decade ago with Tim Cook's move to the CEO position at Apple.

(Photo via Flickr/juanpol)

Article Link: Apple Board Member Mickey Drexler on Steve Jobs' iCar Dreams, Apple's Living Room Push
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/05/17/apple-board-member-mickey-drexler-on-steve-jobs-icar-dreams-apples-living-room-push/
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Apple Knowledge Navigator

Apple Knowledge Navigator

macrumors 68040
Mar 28, 2010
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iCar? I don't know. Doesn't have quite the same twang to it as iPhone/Pod. And how would Apple's design philosophies fit in?

But then the idea of Microsoft designing a Windows Car for the average man?...

No.jpg


Rover_800_01.jpg


Yeahhh. Might not be so bad afterall.
 
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basesloaded190

basesloaded190

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Oct 16, 2007
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I can't see this having ever gone further than a thought Steve once had. It would make zero sense for Apple to do anything like that.
 
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rei101

macrumors 6502a
Dec 24, 2011
976
1
I do not know about the car. But for sure the iBike would have look like this:

DanielSimon_Sketch_TronLegacy-LightcycleOld_02.jpg
 
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inket

inket

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Dec 23, 2009
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miniroll32 said:
iCar? Doesn't have quite the same twang to it as iPhone/Pod.

But then the idea of Microsoft designing a Windows Car for the average man?...

Yeahhh. aka, Rover.
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Dude. No one here wants to see Bill Gates' nose hair.

Also, I can't help but wonder if, on a 1440x900 15" MBP that photo is real-life sized.
 
Reach9

Reach9

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Aug 17, 2010
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While Steve was an amazing businessman no doubt.. I do believe that doing too many things would be an incredibly difficult feat for any company. The consumer electronics industry makes sense, and an iTV seems logical. However, iCar is a bit pushing it.. I believe if anyone, only Steve Jobs could juggle the Mac line, iDevices and a future iLiving Room and iCar. I don't think anyone else can truly manage all these various industries.

But i'd love to see Apple try.
 
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adildacoolset

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Sep 5, 2011
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I want an iCar. The first unibody car! Oh, then we'll see a plastic samsung car after that, with a name like "andromeda P3" running the latest google android hot milkshake 6.0.1.3.2 with a driveWiz aid that is available to consumers 4 months after the release date, only to be affected by a malware that kills the driver.
 
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Small White Car

Small White Car

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Aug 29, 2006
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basesloaded190 said:
I can't see this having ever gone further than a thought Steve once had. It would make zero sense for Apple to do anything like that.
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Who says it would be an Apple car? Steve made a bunch of really successful cartoons without Apple's involvement.

He's not an engineer, he'd need a "John Lasseter of autos" anyway. I imagine his plan would have been to start up a different company. Possibly one where he was owner, but not CEO. That's a way it could have been done alongside his work at Apple.
 
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realmike15

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Feb 1, 2010
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I imagine an iCar would be a joint venture no different than most other car companies. Components from tons of different manufacturers, while the shell and design would be left up to Apple. I have no doubt he would design a car that looks nice, with an excellent multimedia system. Beyond that, I don't think he's capable of reinventing the automobile as we know it... at least not without a lot of expensive help.
 
Small White Car

Small White Car

macrumors G4
Aug 29, 2006
10,966
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Washington DC
realmike15 said:
I imagine an iCar would be a joint venture no different than most other car companies. Components from tons of different manufacturers, while the shell and design would be left up to Apple. I have no doubt he would design a car that looks nice, with an excellent multimedia system. Beyond that, I don't think he's capable of reinventing the automobile as we know it... at least not without a lot of expensive help.
Click to expand...

Yes, as revolutionary and unexpected as the Delorean looked, it has a heck of a lot of Volvo parts in it!
 
T

tienathlon

macrumors member
Mar 30, 2010
44
0
I would love to see an iCar that automatically recognize the owner (keyless) and play a Mac boot up sound every time it starts

get in the car -> iCar recognizes me(using effortless iris scan, like in Minority Report)-> play Mac startup sound -> turn on electronics -> vroom vroom.
 
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carmenodie

macrumors 6502a
Apr 25, 2008
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Yeah, Mickey took over J Crew after getting canned by Don Fisher and things were good. Then a few years ago Mikey changed the style of jcrew's men's style to some goddamn metro male sh**. All the effing pants are low rise with narrow legs and the shirts are tailored fit. Meh!
 
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