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

apple carSpeaking 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.

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)

Top Rated Comments

troop231 Avatar
151 months ago
What kind of fuel would an Apple designed iCar run on?

Unicorn dust of course.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
adildacoolset Avatar
151 months ago
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.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rei101 Avatar
151 months ago
I do not know about the car. But for sure the iBike would have look like this:

Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
inket Avatar
151 months ago
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.

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.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
summitRun Avatar
151 months ago
It would have been probably 50% of the market

Um, what?

Pass the crack pipe dude...
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DakotaGuy Avatar
151 months ago
I want an iCar. The first unibody car!

Passenger cars have been unibody for a long time. The 1941 Nash 600 was the first mass-produced unibody construction automobile made in the United States. Other then pickup trucks and traditional SUVs everything is unibody these days.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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