Woz On Apple's Success

Frankenbuffer writes "The Globe and Mail today has a short interview with Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple. Steve muses on spinning off iPod as a separate division. He also questions the move to Intel." From the article: "Microsoft wants to get out of the whole image of the big, black Darth Vader evil guy ... Innovation is probably going on within the company, because any time you put smart engineers in places eventually they wind up talking and innovating no matter how much you try to hold them back. I hope Microsoft improves and becomes more like Apple."

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Do we really want clones?

[mldkfa]

I don't really understand what Woz means by saying that her hopes intel becomes more like Apple. Would we really just want 1 kind of machine? Does he want Microsoft to only licence their software to hardware vendors that only make PC's that are white boxes? Does he want Microsoft to take out support for obsolete hardware everytime they upgrade their operating system? I mean innovation is one thing. But Microsoft already has shown that people don't really need pretty bozes; they want something that will mostly work with all their software and hardware that they have sitting around.

Ah the Woz..

[fussili]

I'd be interested in seeing what direction he'd take the iPod in if he had the chance. Judging by his involvement in the Danger Inc Hiptop, he's big into small internet communication devices and who wouldn't like a WiFi iPod with a web browser? That screen is becoming bigger all the time.

Right now people seem to be straining to turn the iPod into an Input device, or at least to give it that capability. I'd be very interested to see what the Woz could do with it.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Why do people care about this guy? (serious inq

[Overly Critical Guy]

Because he helped start the personal computer revolution that enabled you to be typing on your computer in your home or office to write that comment. And he brings technical authority, since the Apple II computer was the last personal computer to be designed entirely by a single human being. Whether you use Windows or Linux, it all traces back to Apple.

Re:IPods are the only reason why Apple still exist

[cyngus]

Well, here in Ole Silicon Valley where I take the train every day to work (no, unfortunately not at Apple) they seem to have a lot of penetration. There are three laptops that I see on the train, PowerBooks, ThinkPads, and Dell whatevers. I'd say I see each in about equal numbers. Given that I have a bais to notice PowerBooks ('cause they're dead sexy!) maybe PB's account for more like 20%. Still, pretty good numbers in the Valley where I'd say a lot of the tech trend setters are.

Re:Engineers

[defile]

Except in limited cases, big companies don't innovate on their own. It's too freaking expensive, which makes it even riskier than it is for the garage/basement innovators.

It's a much better strategy for big companies to acquire small innovative companies.

Re:Woz is a good man

[osgeek]

Exactly. The engineer in us all wants Woz to be the much-put-upon hero of the story, but looking at what Jobs and Woz did professionally *after* they were ousted is very telling. Woz tried his hand at a number of enterprises... none of which I can recall. I wonder why?

Jobs, on the other hand, started NeXT; and though we can bicker somewhat about its market success, it was eventually sold to Apple for $400M and was extraordinarily innovative for its time. Afterward, Jobs was the single-most-responsible reason why Apple had its turn-around. He brought Pixar to its successful heights. He envisioned, brought about, and championed changes to the way we think about computer styling, music players, and animated entertainment.

Wozniak sounds like a really nice guy. He was a brilliant engineer, no doubt. However, the real force behind his rise to success was the marketing brilliance of Steve Jobs. Jobs financially made Woz what he is today, and Woz should really be nothing but grateful. Slashdot probably is not the most receptive crowd to such heresy, but it is the truth.

Re:Another "Fun fact about business"

[orac2]

The problem with that approach -- as fashionable as it may (and I think it's popularity may have peaked) -- is that after you've finished spinning off every highly profitable division of your company, all you're left with are the unprofitable or marginally-profitable divisions, plus some nasty overheads, which is not normally a recipie for staying in buisiness. The parent organization closing up shop ideally wouldn't matter too much, except that some of those unprofitable or marginal divisions can often be important for the long term profitability of all those currently high-performing divisions/spin-offs, as customer experience suffers because of integration or legacy support issues, or the well of innovation dries up (R&D divisions are rarely profit centers in themselves) and there's less room for experimentation. Also, without the easily-accessed combined financial resources of the whole, spun-off divisions can find themselves without the reserves needed to weather temporary downturns. Unlocking value is a great short term strategy, but I'm not so sure it makes sense for companies planning for the long haul, such as Apple, especially when Apple's branding and premium pricing relies so heavily on integration and a seamless user experience.

Woz's iPod views

[amightywind]

Given the huge success of the iPod, perhaps a better strategy would be to spin off the computing business.

It is surprising how Woz misunderstands the success of the iPod so deeply. He seems to think of it as a Palm Pilot. A standalone gadget. Jobs obviously takes a different view. He sees a vertically integrated entertainment industry from content production to device presentation. The iPod gets its cache by being associated with other enlightened Apple solutions. Spin it off and the magic is gone, just like IBM Thinkpads and Lenovo. I am not saying the prospect of proprietary integrated technology solutions excites me, but that it where Apple is headed. Expect to see Jobs as next Disney CEO.

Actually having chatted with Woz....

[RzUpAnmsCwrds]

Having actually met (and chatted with) Woz a few months back, just after the Intel transition was announced, I got the impression that he was cautiously optimistic. He understood the problems with the G4 and the G5, but he was concerned about Macs becoming too "PC-like" - what differentiates Macs from PCs now? He also knew about the fact that hackers had gotten OS X (the development release at the time) to run on common PCs, but he didn't seem to be nearly as concerned about it as Apple seems to be now (not surprising considering his legacy).

Interestingly, Woz denied having anything to do with ADB (although he is frequently cited as the inventor), he carries a RAZR (despite his association with Danger, the company that produces the Sidekick) and a Bluetooth headset.

I happened to have a Sony MagicLink with me, and Woz indicated that he hadn't seen someone actually using one in years.

Re:Woz is a good man

[homer_ca]

Technically, the Apple II was basically equivalent to many of the ordinary microcomputer systems sold in the 70s, most of which were designed by unsung anonymous engineers who only ended up with a few $thousand in salary. Most of the Apple II's perceived value over its competitors was derived from Jobs' reality distortion field and the bragging rights to say "we thought of it a few weeks before anyone else did".

The Apple II had a few things going for it. Visicalc was the killer app, and being the first with a new kind of killer app is a big advantage. It was cheap compared to other business computers, which typically had Z80 and 8080 CPUs, CP/M OS, and an S100 bus. Much of the cost advantage came from Woz simplifying the hardware. The floppy drive was controlled by the CPU. It may sound like a kludge, but it still managed to run faster than Atari and Commodore floppies with their dedicated controller chips. More info here [wikipedia.org].

Re:Apple...

[dodobh]

Maybe in the US. In India, the only Macs I have seen belong to either Americans (or a few Europeans), or someone who has been given a Mac by the company. The popular geek portables are the Acer Turion based laptops (at ~ 1K USD), since battery life is not the important criterion for a portable here.

Getting access to electric power is easy, it is the price that is a killer issue.

Who's the enemy?

[4D6963]

"Apple's recent embrace of Intel processors, for one, is something Mr. Wozniak says he never imagined.

"It's like consorting with the enemy.""

Intel? The enemy? Wait... weren't PowerPC's made by IBM? For those who seen Pirates of the Silicon Valley, didn't the two Steves consider IBM as their enemy? You know, the stuck-up guys in black suits who did their stuff the same way they did in the 1950's, wasn't it IBM their enemy?

I thought that Steve Jobs would gladly go away from IBM, I recall that Apple has switched from Motorola CPU's to IBM while he was gone, and now he's changing to Intel, seems to make sence to me, since he hates IBM.

But Steve Wozniak's reaction, I really don't understand it, if anyone can explain me.