Steve Jobs' final project: an Apple-inspired superyacht

The late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs' final project, an 80-metre long superyacht named Venus, was finally floated out at the weekend over a year after the design guru's untimely death.

The superyacht ordered by Apple's late co-founder Steve Jobs docked at the De Vries shipyard in Aalsmeer, the Netherlands. Charles Onians / AFP

If it looks like a floating Apple Store, it is because its creator was the late Steve Jobs.

Venus is the result of what happens when the superyacht concept and a design guru collide, and it was officially launched on Sunday in the Dutch port of Aalsmeer, just over a year after the Apple co-founder died.

However, Feadship, the custom yacht builder, which realised Jobs' dream for him, was giving nothing away about the price tag, nor were the Jobs family who were on hand for the naming.

In fact the only details available for the 80-metre long, all-aluminium superyacht come from last year's Walter Isaacson biography of the great man, in an extract in which he describes how Jobs revealed his particular passion. "After our omelettes at the cafe, we went back to his house and he showed me all of the models and architectural drawings," wrote Isaacson.

"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 40ft long and 10ft high. He had gotten the chief engineer of the Apple stores to design a special glass that was able to provide structural support.

"'I know that it's possible I will die and leave Laurene [his wife] with a half-built boat," Jobs said. 'But I have to keep going on it. If I don't, it's an admission that I'm about to die.'"

Jobs reportedly spent six years designing and constructing the vessel with help from the French product designer Philippe Starck, who also designed a controversial superyacht for the Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko - a 394ft confection simply namedA.

Jobs began designing Venus after returning from cruising between Italy and Turkey, which he described as his "best vacation" ever. He repeatedly redesigned the boat and nearly cancelled the project because of his illness in 2009.

"I didn't think I would be alive when it got done," Jobs said later. "But that made me so sad, and I decided that working on the design was fun to do, and maybe I have a shot at being alive when it's done."

The Jobs family gave the shipbuilderscustomised iPod shuffles and a note thanking them for their "hard work and craftsmanship".

It is unclear if the yacht will ever be delivered to the family, or indeed what the future holds for it.