Wozniak says Apple should make an Android phone

[Coltaine]

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2014/02/woz-interview/

 

 

Steve Wozniak: Apple Should Make an Android Phone

By Mat Honan 02.06.14

Steve Wozniak. Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED

 

 

At the Apps World North America conference in San Francisco, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak gave WIRED a wide-ranging interview, touching on everything from his preferred iPhone 5s color (he has all three) to the fictional operating system in the movie Her. But his most interesting comment by far was a heretical recommendation for his former company: Apple, he thinks, should release an Android handset.

 

“There’s nothing that would keep Apple out of the Android market as a secondary phone market,” said Wozniak–who, it should be noted, is no longer involved in the day-to-day workings of the company. “We could compete very well. People like the precious looks of stylings and manufacturing that we do in our product compared to the other Android offerings. We could play in two arenas at the same time.”

 

Such an iAndroid device is an unlikely prospect, to say the least, but it’s not technically impossible. Android is an open-source operating system software based on the Apache Software License 2.0, and is available for any handset maker to adopt and develop. Apple could even fork Android, as Amazon has, to create a version of the OS more in line with Apple’s aesthetic. (Apple would, however, need to separately license Google applications such Maps and Gmail to the device.)

Despite how that suggestion might sound, Wozniak was generally bullish on his former company, rejecting the notion that innovation at Apple has stalled out. When asked about Apple’s much-remarked-on failure last year to introduce a new category–such as a smartwatch or TV, both long rumored to be in the works–Woz countered that he believes Apple is waiting for the right time to release the right product.

 

“The great products really come from secret development,” he said. “You put small teams of great people on them and they aren’t bothered by other people commenting on what they’re doing while they’re doing it. A whole new category of products doesn’t happen very often. It might happen once a decade. Sometimes you have to wait for one of those to come about.”

He also endorsed Apple’s decision not to pour new features into the iPhone, arguing that feature creep is not the same as innovation. “If you have something really good, don’t change it; don’t screw it up,” he said. “You pick up a Samsung phone and say smile and it takes a picture, but how much innovation is that? That’s just throwing in a lot of features.”

 

“People don’t really choose their smartphones based on features,” he added. “I think Apple is superior at being able to say no.”

Wozniak also addressed the future of the operating system–in particular the one featured in the Spike Jonze movie Her, which tells the story of an OS that not only processes natural language but thinks on its own.

 

“A computer can execute a lot of instructions, but it can’t solve simple problems unless you give it an approach, and the human comes up with the approach,” he said, noting that true artificial intelligence would need to overcome that iron law. Previously, he was swayed by Ray Kurzweil’s argument that exponential curves in technology–Moore’s Law chief among them–would make this leap possible surprisingly soon. But Wozniak worries that such curves can’t keep going forever. “I think Moore’s Law is at the end, right now,” he said. “We’re storing ones and zeros with 8 electrons, and you just can’t get much smaller than that.”

 

Even with that caveat, though, when an audience member at his keynote address here asked him what he would work on today if he were a young developer, he was quick to reply: AI.

 

 

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Well, that'd be a thing if it happened. I wonder how the fanboys would react to something like that.

[Jogostar]

stuff that you quote from an article should be put in quotes.

so we know what you wrote.

 

btw. your avatar looks kinda.....wrong.

[MatheusSanzo]

Oh, the irony it would be.

[nixproducer]

I see where he is coming from because they do make good hardware but they would make it overpriced and they would try to put their own skin on android which i do not think would look that good if it would look anything like iOS 7. I do not think it will ever happen but anything is possible 

[Rhino2112000]

I think thats a great idea

[Rhino2112000]

I want an iphone with android OS and put it on a so called big screened iphone rumor

[kuddlesworth9419]

Why not. Apple's stock has been flatlined for some time now so maybe releasing an Android phone would boost their stocks up a little more. 

[Rhino2112000]

They should also make a windows 8 macbook and an ipod that uses MP3 format

 

also an actual tv by apple integrated with apple tv like from the console. And actual tv with a screen not a media box

[Frix]

stuff that you quote from an article should be put in quotes.

so we know what you wrote.

 

btw. your avatar looks kinda.....wrong.

Anything about the contents of the post or are you a mod now or something?

[Jogostar]

I think thats a great idea

 

 

I want an iphone with android OS

 

 

They should also make a windows 8 macbook and an ipod that uses MP3 format

 

also an actual tv by apple integrated with apple tv like from the console. And actual tv with a screen not a media box

stop post farming/spamming

[techswede]

it would be amazing to see how much they lock down android if they do this..

[Jogostar]

Anything about the contents of the post or are you a mod now or something?

no, I'd just like to know what he wrote, so I can see what his opinion on it is.

[N00B_person]

Apple are going to drop almost the one thing that makes their phones different and rip off an OS? Now theyre just trying to make everyone happy, and it ain't workin, sister.

[Coltaine]

stuff that you quote from an article should be put in quotes.

so we know what you wrote.

 

btw. your avatar looks kinda.....wrong.

 

I'm oldschool, the "-----------------------------------" is what I've done for years to mark the end of the quoted article. But ok, I put in the quote things.

 

My avatar is a rusty piston inside a ~50 year old diesel engine, which is now running with minimal repairs having been done to it.

[Rhino2112000]

stop post farming/spamming

sorry i am new

[Jogostar]

I'm oldschool, the "-----------------------------------" is what I've done for years to mark the end of the quoted article. But ok, I put in the quote things.

 

My avatar is a rusty piston inside a ~50 year old diesel engine, which is now running with minimal repairs having been done to it.

yeah, thanks for putting it in quotes.

just easier to see what you wrote with the quotes. ^^

[KaareKanin]

Something like a 5S running stock android would make me very happy

[NameOfNoInterest]

Sounds like it'd bomb

[algoat]

With android on their phones, would apple be able to sue themselves?

[Kamina]

They should have it dual boot to Android! Best of both worlds.

[Ineko]

stop post farming/spamming

 

No.

[jrfox87]

They should also make a windows 8 macbook

 

They essentially already do. All Macs made in the past 8 years can run Windows just as well as PCs and Apple makes it really simple to do and provides drivers for you.

[Ertman]

This is at best makes little sense. Generalizing here, an android phone with all the features that android fanboys hate about iPhones. Two ways about this, a highend phone isn't going to be cheaper, and a lowend phone is still going to have compromises that may even lead to a devaluing of their brand..

I am not saying they would never do it, it just doesn't make much sense.

[EricX2]

Great idea, Apple should make a phone that isn't compatible with any of their apps, that would go great. Then they should let Samsung make a phone with iOS on it... come on Woz, the ONE thing the iPhone has going for it is iOS apps. Once it's an Android it has actual competition from phones that are significantly better. The only other option would be to make iOS apps work on Android, then other people would figure out how to hack them then nobody would need an iPhone.

[Ertman]

Something like a 5S running stock android would make me very happy

Please elaborate.