Austin Carr | August 3, 2012
Thanks to Apple’s court battle with Samsung over patent issues, loads of interesting details are pouring out about the famously secretive company. Today, Apple’s SVP of marketing Phil Schiller took the stand and revealed another fascinating detail: Before Apple made the iPhone, the company was considering making a car and other “crazy stuff,” Schiller said, according to the New York Times’ Nick Bilton, who is reporting at the courthouse.
The revelation not only confirms our earlier report that Steve Jobs was interested creating an iCar but implies it was more than a pipe dream–the company was actually seriously considering the product, it seems. At Fast Company’s recent Innovation Uncensored conference, J. Crew CEO and Apple board member Mickey Drexler first hinted that Cupertino might be interested in becoming more like Detroit. “Look at the car industry; it’s a tragedy in America. Who is designing the cars?” Drexler said. “Steve’s dream before he died was to design an iCar.”
“And,” Drexler added with a smirk, “it would’ve been probably 50% of the market. He never did design it.”
Though the iCar never came to market, elements of Apple’s products have made their way into the automobile industry. Siri, the popular iPhone virtual assistant, will soon make her way into cars developed by Mercedes, GM, BMW, and more.
D & B Auto Radio, Inc. 