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Philippe-Starck-Designed Yacht for Steve Jobs is Completed

By Rain Noe - November 2, 2012

in Cars

You may remember that earlier this year, Philippe Starck claimed to be working on a "revolutionary" project for Apple. That was later clarified, and it turned out Starck wasn't working for Apple, exactly: He was the designer tapped by Steve Jobs, before his death, to design Jobs' personal yacht (or at least, the interior).

Well, said yacht—tragically completed one year after Jobs' death—was finally completed and launched on Sunday in Allsmeer, a Dutch city eight miles south of Amsterdam. Pictures of the interior are pretty scarce, but here's one that surprised me:

You think those are just for show, or do you reckon they pilot the thing by iMac?

In any case, Walter Isaacson's biography of Jobs seems to contain more details about the boat than we can see in the sparse photos:

[Jobs] showed me all of the models and architectural drawings. As expected, the planned yacht was sleek and minimalist. The teak decks were perfectly flat and unblemished by any accoutrements. As at an Apple store, the cabin windows were large panes, almost floor to ceiling, and the main living area was designed to have walls of glass that were forty feet long and ten feet high. He had gotten the chief engineer of the Apple stores to design a special glass that was able to provide structural support. By then the boat was under construction by the Dutch custom yacht builders Feadship, but Jobs was still fiddling with the design. "I know that it's possible I will die and leave Laurene with a half-built boat," he said. "But I have to keep going on it. If I don't, it's an admission that I'm about to die."

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JB

12 years ago

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Total lack of design. Looks like a river barge. This squared off scow probably has very poor seakeeping abilities.
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holdmyhandle

12 years ago

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Interesting comments about how bad it looks. This yacht is about user experience, what it feels like being on board. Would you rather see the inside of a hull or the ocean?
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george

12 years ago

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The boat is great! It's different than anything else. It would have gotten the same criticism if it looked like all the others. It will take a while for you guys to " think different"
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lucklucky

12 years ago

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The Starck "A" yacht is much more pleasant.

This one at least have one formal innovation, the hull windows.
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Eric

12 years ago

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Hideous, looks like a convention center that floats!
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David

12 years ago

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I don't think this boat has anything to do with apple (except for the imacs on the bridge). As far as I can see this boat is totally Starck design. Perhaps is not the best yatch I've seen but neither the worst.
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Joao Barroso

12 years ago

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I am an admirer of Steve Jobs' view of the world, and Apple's overall design, functionality and aesthetic choices.
But in all honesty, I find this yacht too bland and "square", which strips it of all the swift hidro-dynamic cool look of modern boats.

It looks like the top of an apartment building which has just gone underwater when Sandy rolled by.
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Flavio

12 years ago

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This boat is ugly as it gets... looks like a wedding cake of an Apple die hard fan (one of those who wait 2 days in the rain for the new apple brick because now it has one more function).
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