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10 Things that would be totally different if Steve Jobs really had his way

The late Steve Jobs has been credited with changing virtually every industry he touched, from computing and communications to education and entertainment. The more than 800 million iPods, iPhones, iPads, and Macs that Apple has sold in the past two decades is ample proof of that.

But a lot of Jobs’ ideas never made it to market or were changed significantly along the way — and that’s probably a good thing. If you believe the recent slew of stories outlining the late CEO’s quirkier ideas, most of them thwarted, our world might have been radically different. Here’s how a pure, unadulterated “World by Steve” might have looked.

iPhones would still be tiny.

The 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and 5.5-inch 6 Plus are the biggest Apple has ever built, as well as the fastest-selling iPhones ever. But they wouldn’t have existed if Steve had had his way.

In a July 2010 press conference following the Antennagate debacle, Jobs admitted that a larger handset might have averted the reception problems that plagued the iPhone 4 but declared that no one would buy a phone “so big you can’t get your hand around it.” 

A version of this became the tagline “No one is going to buy a big phone,” included in Samsung’s snarky advert for the Galaxy Note phablet.

iPad would still be big.

“We think the current crop of 7-inch tablets are going to be DOA, dead on arrival.”

These words came straight from Jobs’ mouth in an October 2010 conference call with Wall Street analysts. But a year after the CEO’s passing, Apple went ahead and started selling the iPad mini (a mere nine-tenths of an inch larger than those 7-inchers).

The mini became a hit with consumers, with the cheaper, smaller, and lighter iPad even eventually showing better sales numbers than Jobs’ beloved 10-inch model.

The Macintosh would be named “Bicycle” …

In 1980, Jobs decided he wanted to rename the as-yet-unbuilt Macintosh computer “Bicycle” because, as he wrote at the time, “computers are bicycles for the mind.” Fortunately, the idea failed to gain traction, and he gave up on it.

Other odd hardware product names Jobs was apparently talked out of include “MacMan” (for the iMac), and “TelePod,” “Mobi,” or “TriPod” (for the iPhone).

… and it would be made by Sony.

Steve Jobs’ admiration for Sony has been well documented. But according to a Japanese journalist, who got the story from a former Sony executive, the Apple head honcho in 2005 propositioned Sony’s boss with a deal that would allow his company to sell Vaio machines loaded with Mac OS.

Sony was doing well with its line of Vaio Windows machines at the time, so Jobs’ offer was declined, or so the story goes. Sony sold its Vaio PC businessentirely earlier this year.

Safari would be named “Freedom” and Siri would be … anything but Siri.

If it were solely up to Jobs, Apple’s Web browser might have been called “Freedom,” according to Don Melton, a now-retired programmer who worked on the team in charge of creating the software. When Melton first heard the name “Safari,” he knew it was a great fit for the program, and luckily Jobs and company felt the same way when he brought it to them.

The iPhone wouldn’t have been white.

Regardless of how iconic Apple’s sleek white-colored computer and mobile gadgets are today, Jobs originally wanted to avoid ever using the color.

After the release of the multicolored iMacs of the early 2000s, the Apple boss was convinced by now design head Jony Ive to move in a different direction and use an elegant “moon gray” on some products that followed — this according to a book released last year about Sir Jony.

The Apple TV would be more like the Wii …

Jobs was reportedly taken with the idea of developing a Nintendo Wii-mote-type magic wand for use with Apple’s TV OS, according to an intra-company email and a patent filing.

Whether Apple was eventually dissuaded by the string of flying Wii-mote/TV screen-smashing accidents is unknown, but the Apple Wand has yet to magically appear on store shelves.

… but Steve’s kids would not be allowed to use it.

Jobs and Apple have gone a long way to instill a sense of “personal relationship” between device and customer. Apparently, though, that relationship extends only to adults — Jobs actually forbade his kids from using some of his company’s products.

When a journalist asked Jobs at the iPad 2 unveiling what his teen children thought of the seemingly kid-friendly device, his response was, “They haven’t used it. We limit how much technology our kids use at home.”

WiFi would be free for everyone.

Earlier this year, technology columnist Walt Mossberg explained that Jobs once contemplated plans to provide free WiFi for everyone, a ploy to unchain his then new-and-beautiful iPhone from 2007’s slower 2G cellular networks.

According to Mossberg, Jobs wasn’t planning to have Apple foot the bill, but instead wanted to collaborate with service providers for router-sharing schemes throughout neighborhoods, something that is actually becoming more and more common today.

Apple would never make its own HDTV.

One thing Jobs was clear about is that he never wanted to get into the business of manufacturing television sets.

“TV is a terrible business. They don’t turn over, and the margins suck,” the Apple co-founder is quoted as saying in a book centered around today’s post-Jobs Apple. 

Yet rumors persist that Apple will unveil its own flatscreens, possibly as soon as 2015. Will an Apple-branded HDTV actually appear, once again thwarting Steve’s plans? Stay tuned for further developments.

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