News: the yacht that Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs designed for himself before he died this time last year with interiors by French designer Philippe Starck is now complete and has been unveiled at the Dutch shipyard where it was built.
Named Venus, the 80-meter-long ship has an aluminium exterior reminiscent of the company's notebooks plus large panels of glazing common to Apple stores and seven 27-inch Macs in the wheelhouse. It was built over six years at the Koninklijke De Vries shipyards of the Feadship custom yacht-building company in Aalsmeer, the Netherlands.
Jobs' widow and three of their children were present for the ceremony but it's not yet clear what will happen to the boat.
"I know that it's possible I will die and leave Laurene with a half-built boat," Jobs is reported to have said in his biography by Walter Isaacson. "But I have to keep going on it. If I don't, it's an admission that I'm about to die."
Jobs passed away on 5 October 2011 aged 56 after suffering with pancreatic cancer. See all our stories about Steve Jobs and all our stories about Apple.
In the past we've reported on boats designed by Zaha Hadid, Thomas Heatherwick, Marc Newson and Studio Job. Check out all our stories about boats.
Fail! A yacht isn’t an iPhone!
Starck shouldn’t be allowed to design boats or anything where function is an underlying aspect.
The iBoat, AKA an aluminium wedge.
Not the sexiest yacht I’ve ever seen. Philippe Starck, really? Must be somewhere deep in the interiors. Chuckled at the power cord sticking out the cupboard door.
A shame the businessman didn't die before his cheque cleared or perhaps we'd have better phones and less sea monsters.
Very Corbusian. No idea why they used the metal for the bow – was it laser engraved at the Apple factory?
Philippe, come back to squeezers.
The first image reminds me of one of those early 1900s dreadnoughts.
What a bunch of whiners. At least it’s more interesting than the usual penis extension mega-yachts. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if every boat looked the same!?
You obviously haven’t seen many yachts. Have a look at Wally Yachts or even Stark’s Virtuelle.
Starck’s Virtuelle is a ridiculous comparison as it’s a completely different type of vessel. Wally yachts look like sci-fi designs from the 1980s – way too aggressive and over-designed. I think this yacht here is sleek, understated and elegant.
Damn ugly. I have seen better plans.
The bow is made of glass…
Is it the laundry room or is it the bridge?
Rich people don’t have taste ;-)
Should”ve left the design to Jony Ive…
Wow, you guys are able to find a way to be cynical of a design by someone who worked on his project through cancer and imminent death.
Doesn’t change the fact it’s fugly. Sorry.
I respect Steve Jobs, but doing this through cancer and imminent death doesn’t make the design any more than good, but rather more on the personal touch from the designer.
I know nothing about yachts but it looks more like a houseboat to me. Would look great moored on the Thames but doesn’t look sleek enough to be ocean going!
Nice gesture, but probably the ugliest boat I've ever seen.
Ah, finally a bit of sharpness in this otherwise white, plastic, curvy world. Starck again proves to be a great boat designer; he and Wally yachts are the only ones currently produced that generate enthusiasm.
Ugly from every angle!
Simply strong and beautiful. Except the seven Apple screens – that is too much!
Words cannot express the disappointment of seeing so much money wasted on such an embarrassingly pitiful design. Marine architects typically do such great jobs with boats.
80 meters long and has no heliport? Come on!
Not sure but maybe… Yes. It’s ugly.
Dear Philippe, you have to press F8 to turn “ortho” off.
Wouldn’t like to be on this in any kind of a sea and it’s no use for posing in the Med either. Only good for target practice I’m afraid. Although I doubt it would even make a good artificial reef.
Strange comments above. Would have expected Dezeen readers to be more open to innovation, or non-conformist design.
Yes I absolutely agree with you. Beauty or ugliness: it is all subject to your background and not an absolute truth. For me, this design is of timeless beauty. It’s like an echo of modernist architecture. But most people would comment on the modernist architecture also as cold and ugly and say “that’s not a house, it has no pointy roof.” It requires stepping away from what we are traditionally used to and trying to understand.
He should have asked Jonathan, sorry, I mean Jony Ive to get involved. This is rather underwhelming and the interior isn’t fantastic either. Again, need better images!
Ridiculous. It’s bizarre how completely his product design sense doesn’t compute at a larger scale.
Steve should have stuck with his day job!
I believe yacht designers are pretty good at what they do. What was wrong in at least consulting one, let alone commissioning one?
Thank you for your comment! That is exactly my point. Same with the new London bus. Just get the experts in, not the celebs!
I was taken aback when I first saw it but then I put myself in Jobs’ position — to be aboard with my wife and children and look out from that upper deck. That yacht wasn’t designed for the observer; it was designed for the user.
A wannabe “iBoat”, but it looks like it has been thought and created in the mind of a PC user.
It has good aspects. Not sure it does it for me. Today’s “adult contemporary” yachts and yacht designers should be send to hell. Wally is not bad at all.
Bull, yachts are mostly for others to watch. Users are bored to death anyway.
Please stop this respect nonsense. Oh, Mr.Apple is dead, we can’t be cynical.
http://www.my-cakewalk.com/
Now here is a yacht for the user and the observer.
I would put money on it that this is BS. This might have been made for him, but not commisioned by him.
The family didn’t buy it either. I read that they couldn’t find any paperwork claiming Jobs had wanted this boat. They wouldn’t even pay the remaining three million for it.
http://gizmodo.com/5971236/steve-jobs-yacht-is-fr…
Heres a link. It seems Stark is a bit full of it.