“Apple Inc. has kept its power to determine the course of consumer electronics even as it faces tougher competition in mobile phones and tablets, said Steve Wozniak, who co-founded the company with Steve Jobs in 1976,” Cornelius Rahn reports for Bloomberg. “Companies such as Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc. ‘all have great ideas, but sometimes you need a critical mass of loyal users that will instantly buy and go this direction,’ Wozniak said in an interview at Bloomberg’s Berlin office this week. ‘Apple is really good at setting a standard with a new device. Apple still has its halo in that regard.'”
“Apple should consider opening up its ecosystem, for instance by allowing buyers of mobile devices running Microsoft Corp. or Google Android to use the iTunes media-management software, Wozniak said,” Rahn reports. “Wozniak, who has a black and a white iPhone 5, using Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc., respectively, said he expects Microsoft’s Windows Phone software to gain ‘enough critical mass to keep going with their tablets and phones’ as the company is present in more markets than Apple.”
Rahn reports, “BlackBerry will ultimately have to switch to the Android operating system, he said, adding that the company’s ‘good reputation as a hardware builder’ and their brand should provide enough differentiation for the company’s products.”
Read more in the full article here.
Oh my! I’ve long wished Woz would return to Apple until first, Kathy Griffim, and now this! Sigh!
Woz doesn’t deserve to come back, in fact if Apple is still providing him any kind of money or perks he should be cut loose. He is basically a traitor as this point. Talking up the competition and talking shit about Apple.
Also if Woz ever came back and he was privy to any sensitive information or products it would no doubt make Eric T. Mole’s treachery look tame in comparison.
I think the long term trend will be for current handset makers to find a way to get out of Android, especially now that Google is in the hardware business having bought Motorola Molbility.
Samsung wiill be the first to take the Android code and fork it into something else. And since Android users never actually buy apps, they won’t care, their investment in the platform is nil.
BB should stay with their new OS and see where it goes. They may fail but if they were just another me-too Android shop, their failure would be a certainty.
I don’t think android would help blackberry. Their operating system is less messy. Their apps may be lacking but are probly less malware. Woz is enamored with android since they welcome him into their circle. Apple doesn’t quite extend the same embrace.
I think it’s more that Woz is a tinkerer by nature (and once, by trade) and as a result, he’s drawn to Android. But he’s still using an iPhone. He’s also probably got a few Android phones lying around still, too. He just loves gadgets.
It is pretty obvious by now that regardless what the facts are or public opinion is regarding Famdroid, it is here to stay. Whatever Apple should be owed through settlement or lawsuit is not likely to happen. Given those facts, Apple can either make money from Android or sit back and bitch about it.
What Woz is suggesting is that Apple compete for the Android dollar just as Google competes for the iOS dollar. Not doing so leaves a lot of money on the table.
As to the long term, Google is getting better at software faster than Apple is getting it’s act together at web services. With Motorola and Google working on Androids unloaded with 3rd party BS the road a year from now could be a lot tougher for Apple.
“…Google is getting better at software faster than Apple is getting it’s act together at web services.”
Assuming Apple is sitting on it’s ass, which is highly doubtful. I’ve heard this notion parroted a few times now and it amounts to speculation at best.
It is not speculation that Apple’s web services record sucks. It is also not speculation that Google shines in this area.
It is not speculation that Android is improving rapidly as is Chrome and other software. Apple’s software seems stuck in an eternal beta state and the company seems tone deaf regarding the Macintosh and to a lesser extent iOS.
But the evidence is that Android users don’t buy stuff for their handsets.
I know plenty of Android users with substantial iTunes libraries.
Wow, you actually think Woz is on to something? Apple is enjoying far greater success than anything using android and actually the Blackberry 10 OS is very good compared to android which seems to be continuously waning. Tizen will also help replace android.
FYI, Apple won’t do anything to support android. It is a stolen, bastard OS and Apple does not play with thieves or freaks.
“It is a stolen, bastard OS and Apple does not play with thieves or freaks.”
QuickTime and iTunes for Windows, anyone?
Windows is a stolen, bastard OS.
Ok, let’s see:
– Android on BlackBerry… perhaps. Perhaps not the best alternative. Since they traditionally served the corporate IT market, perhaps Windows Mobile would be a better suit for them. One of BlackBerry’s strong offering has always been security. Android is a security mess.
– iTunes on Windows and Android? I think that’s brilliant. They have it on Windows already, opening the iPod ecosystem to Windows user. iTunes is a big revenue source. Moves a lot of interesting content not available for non-iOS users. Apple can profit from iTunes content in Android and Windows, the same way they profit from the iPod on Windows.
Is he talking about iTunes for Windows. What a novel idea.
itunes is on windows, keep it there, but not android, since it is a rip-off of the o/s from the start… plus android users dont buy stuff for the most part, so its a moot point.
iTunes is on Windows, but not Windows Mobile, and it won’t sync, nor should it, with Windows Mobile or Android. The only reason Apple should have for allowing iTunes to sync natively with an alien mobile OS is if competitive pressures dictate it. Those pressures don’t currently exist.
It’s funny that people keep quoting this guy. Just because he was dragged by Steve Jobs into starting Apple. He hasn’t really done anything since the Apple II. He knows less about running a business than my dog but yet everything he mutters about what Apple should do gets quoted by every web site as though it actually mattered.
For now, iTunes for Android possibly would jeapordize Apple’s infringement cases by seeming to legitimize Android. So, I don’t think that will happen until the legal cases are settled. Also, we can assume Google believes iTunes for Android is not in the cards, since the company is developing its own music platform. Finally, the news that Google is considering opening it’s own retail stores signals that it is preparing for the day when it fully enters the hardware business, which should be part of any competitive equation too.
The Woz has Jumped the Shark this time.
My respect for him fades out in the early 90s.
it’s been 30 years since he woz relevant.
Hear, hear!
So, what I’m hearing, is that this guy is saying that Apple better get with the program or we’ll be seeing a lot more people using Android and Microsoft Surfaces out there.
Yeah, right, Woz….
So what he’s saying is Apple better get with the program or we’ll be seeing a lot more people using Android and Surfaces.
Yeah, right, Woz. 😛
So long as Apple is selling hardware by the boatload, there’s no need to add iTunes access on competing platforms.
Keep smoking that stuff, Woz, I don’t think you can handle reality anymore.
Why are we still even mentioning this fat old geek in Apple related news ?
Woz should feel lucky Jobs chose to work with him on the first Apple computer. He’s overstayed his welcome for far too long in Apple fans’ mindshare. That guy was already irrelevant when the original Mac came out and has no business making any statements about Apple.
Woz is to Jobs what Balmer is to Gates. (and I don’t mean to equate Gates to Jobs in anyway by this)
Exactly what credentials does Woz have to be discussing what Apple should do? Why do we care what he says? Why does the press care? Is he any different than all the “analysts” who say what Apples next moves should be? What a waste of time.
It occurs to me that Apple could kill two birds with one stone by bringing back Steve Wozniak as a part-time spokesman or placing him in funny adverts.
He’s something of a comedic figure, and Apple could afford to lighten up in the image department. As an eminent Android enthusiast, he’d inject street cred that could help dial down the fandroid iHate, and bury the hatchet once wielded by Steve Jobs.
Representing Apple, Woz would tend to refrain from the more foolish statements or advice he has been tossing about. And wouldn’t the stock market show Apple some love if it once again had a charismatic, iconic character out in front, if only a figurehead?
Woz at Apple could bring back the funk, harkening back to the John Hodgman/Justin Long ad campaign.
And maybe he’d nudge the engineers to step up the work on the Mac Pro… 😉
Very good points. And if any of these knuckleheads knew Woz they would know that he is a very good man. Nothing phony. Just simply speaks his mind. As I said before, it’s difficult to make an objective comment here. But believe me, there would be no Apple if there had been no Woz. Same goes for Steve. It took both of them. Steve Jobs didn’t invent anything and Woz couldn’t sell anything. It was a perfect match. And that doesn’t happen often enough in life.
Listen, bozos. iPhone copycats with retarded large screens is not competition. There is Apple on the stage, and then the also rans filling in the cheap seats.
Shut up Woz