Steve Jobs Planned To Celebrate The Sale Of Millionth iMac Like Willy Wonka

In an upcoming book from Ken Segall titled Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple’s Success, an intriguing Steve Jobs fantasy has been revealed which shows the man’s obsession with a fictional charter, Willy Wonka (via MacRumors). According to the source, the story takes place soon after the original iMac’s launch when Steve Jobs wanted to celebrate the sale of the millionth iMac in a unique way. Turns out, his idea was to do a ‘Willy Wonka style competition’ with golden ticket etc. and picking a winner who would get an exclusive trip to Cupertino and a free iMac.

Detailing from the source:

Steve’s idea was to do a Willy Wonka with it. Just as Wonka did in the movie, Steve wanted to put a golden certificate representing the millionth iMac inside the box of one iMac, and publicize that fact. Whoever opened the lucky iMac box would be refunded the purchase price and be flown to Cupertino, where he or she (and, presumably, the accompanying family) would be taken on a tour of the Apple campus. 

Steve had already instructed his internal creative group to design a prototype golden certificate, which he shared with us. But the killer was that Steve wanted to go all out on this. He wanted to meet the lucky winner in full Willy Wonka garb. Yes, complete with top hat and tails.

The idea was however cancelled when Apple figured out California state law required the contest to not require a purchase for entry, meaning Apple would require to setup an open contest. So much for Steve’s insane fantasies 🙂