Steve Wozniak today has done an ‘Ask Me Anything’ on Reddit, taking questions from users on variety of topics. Wozniak, who also gave a video interview for Reddit’s new Formative series, discussed things such as Tim Cook, Apple’s battle with the FBI, Apple Watch, and much more.
One of the most notable questions centered on Wozniak’s approval of Tim Cook as Apple’s CEO. Wozniak explained that overall he thinks Cook is doing a great job. He praised Cook’s attitude of putting the customers and employees of Apple first, a tradition that Steve Jobs worked hard to set. Specifically, Wozniak pointed out that Apple is willing to delve into the advertising game of “knowing you and advertising to you” in order to make money, something Tim Cook has spoken about in the past.
One thing that Cook has done that Wozniak worries about, however, is the complexity of the Apple Watch lineup. Wozniak points out that there are “twenty watches from $500 to $1100” where the band is the only real difference. Wozniak is quick to remind us though, that he “loves” his Apple Watch.
I worry a little bit about – I mean I love my Apple Watch, but – it’s taken us into a jewelry market where you’re going to buy a watch between $500 or $1100 based on how important you think you are as a person. The only difference is the band in all those watches. Twenty watches from $500 to $1100. The band’s the only difference? Well this isn’t the company that Apple was originally, or the company that really changed the world a lot. So it might be moving, but you’ve got to follow, you know. You’ve got to follow the paths of where the markets are.
Building on that, Wozniak pointed out that these days he is wearing an Apple Watch almost daily and that he has a steel model, noting that he enjoys being able to quickly reply to texts and communicate without taking his phone out of his pocket. Wozniak also noted that one of his favorite hands-free devices, however, is Amazon’s Echo as it allows him to “not even have to get out of the sheets in bed to use it.”
I had some other smart watches, and I got turned off. One of them I kinda liked actually, called the Martian Watch. It was a very very simple one, but you could talk Siri commands into it. But I had the first Galaxy Gear, and after half a day, it just turned me off that it was separated; it felt between me and my phone. Whereas, the Apple Watch does some amazing things with Apple Pay, boarding passes for airplanes, and all the Siri commands that work. I do wish the speaker were louder.
Wozniak was also asked about his opinion on Apple’s battle with the FBI on whether or not the company should unlock the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino gunmen. Wozniak says that, as someone who grew up in “a time when communist Russia under Stalin was thought to be, everybody is spied on, everybody is looked into,” he greatly appreciates personal liberties. He also notes, much like Cook has done, that once Apple creates that tool to access the iPhone in question, it’s out in the open so someone with harmful intentions could get ahold of it:
If you tell somebody, “I am not snooping on you,” or, “I am giving you some level of privacy; I will not look in your drawers,” then you should keep your word and be honest. And I always try to avoid being a snoop myself, and it’s rare in time that we can look back and say, “How should humans be treated?” Not, “How can the police run everything?”
I was brought up in a time when communist Russia under Stalin was thought to be, everybody is spied on, everybody is looked into, every little thing can get you secretly thrown into prison. And, no. We had our Bill of Rights. And it’s just dear to me. The Bill of Rights says some bad people won’t do certain bad things because we’re protecting humans to live as humans.
So, I come from the side of personal liberties. But there are also other problems. Twice in my life I wrote things that could have been viruses. I threw away every bit of source code. I just got a chill inside. These are dangerous, dangerous things, and if some code gets written in an Apple product that lets people in, bad people are going to find their way to it, very likely.
Finally, Wozniak also touched on his reasoning for leaving Apple. He explained that he left the company because he wanted to be like “a normal person,” not one seeking wealth and power, while he also loved startups:
I left Apple partly because i wanted to be, like, a normal person. I didn’t want to seek wealth and power, because in my mind it often corrupts people, and I didn’t want to be that person who runs a company. The first time I left Apple was an odd accident. I had a plane crash as a pilot. I didn’t come out of an amnesia state for five weeks where I didn’t know time was passing. When I came out of the amnesia I realized that the Macintosh team (they were my favorite, most creative thinking team at Apple, and I was on that team), would be fine without me.
So I called up Steve Jobs and told him “Macintosh team’s in great shape, I’m gonna go back to college and get my degree.” I had one year left to go. If I waited another year it would be too late to ever go back to college again actually. So I went back to Berkeley under the fake name Rocky Raccoon Clark, and that’s what it says on my Berkeley diploma.
Somehow I grew up with these values that seem kind of incredible, so I always was on good terms with Apple and they always liked me, I’m always welcome. I could come by, Steve Jobs would always make sure I had a badge that could get me into any building. I didn’t use it much, but I can go there. The only trouble is I’ll get mobbed.
And then I left the second time because I love startups.
Furthermore, Wozniak sat down with Reddit’s new Formative series to give a video interview, which can be watched below:
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This has bothered me for a long time about Apple. It seems like their product lines are becoming more and more complex, with subtle differences between products. Yes, to us hardcore fans we can easily tell the differences. But to the average customer, it just complicates the buying process. Sure, buying a watch is supposed to be a “personal” experience – but not everyone is looking for that level of choice.
Not trying to turn this into a “Steve would be so upset” comment – but when Jobs first returned to Apple, one of the things he did was to simplify the product line, getting rid of some of the somewhat subtle differences between products and even product lines. It’s becoming a problem again… and this complexity seems so contrary to the Apple brand. Going into the Apple store is no longer a study in simplicity and elegance, it’s an exercise in measuring screen sizes, comparing specs and evaluating twenty different material choices. Very unApple, if you ask me… and we’re not even talking about technology yet.
I think it’s more about hitting difference price points which make the lineups seem complex. Maybe they need to put someone other than Schiller in charge of product lineups. Marketing is going to always be about price points and upselling.
Agree. iSaid the same thing the other day. iPad Mini, iPad Air, iPad Pro, iPhone 5S, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6S Plus,… Omg.
I think Apple should kill the regular sized iPad or the mini. I initially felt the iPad Pro shouldn’t exist, and I still do because of the price difference between a Macbook Air and iPad Pro but they won’t do that as it just launched of course, I don’t understand why you would get an iPad Pro if you can get a Macbook Air for the same amount of money, with even more storage and desktop class apps. With the original iPad, there is still a big price difference between the 2. Yes iPad and Macbook are different products, the goal of the iPad was to get you more portability but nobody can tell me iPad Pro is more portable than a Macbook Air because they are both about the same size and the Air’s battery lasts much longer.
When it comes to iPhone, I think Apple should have only the 2 flagship ones, and maybe maybe a 4 inch model at most for people who hate big phones. So iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus and iPhone SE.
I hope
They are going after what is considered, in their minds as “the sweet spot” of the market and they have to look at the bottom line at all times. They don’t go after the ultra low end laptop/desktop market. NO PROFIT. They also aren’t going after the ultra high end market either, not enough demand and it’s ultimately not that profitable either.
Apple has to do what they are doing to serve a wider audience.
Different material choices? Huh? All Apple products, wth the exception of Watches, use Aluminum cases, they just have different color choices with IPhone/iPads/IPods and the MacBooks, other than that, they are all made from Aluminum. Please don’t confuse color choice with a different material. The watches are the ONLY product Apple sells that has different case materials because the watch has a much higher level of fashion as part of what the product is. Watches have always had tons of different styles, and in that case, yes, they are catering to the typical user that doesn’t spend more than $400 and those are Aluminum, but some people WILL spend more money for stainless steel or solid gold because watches have that inherent fashion aspect, but that’s JUST for the watches because of the inherent nature of the device. I don’t know if I necessarily agree or disagree, but I understand why they are doing it that way But yeah, in the case of Apple Watches, it would suggest a very unlike- Jobs approach. But then again, Jobs wasn’t always right about everything. He is/was a human being and human beings aren’t perfect. :-)
Mac sales back when Jobs went back to Apple was around 3.881 million Macs sold in fiscal year 1999. in fiscal year 2015, Apple has had 20+ million Macs sold. In Apple’s worst quarter in fiscal year 2015, they sold more than they did in the entire 1999 fiscal year. Also, back then, most people were buying desktops, now most people are buying laptops. Despite what you think, Apple doesn’t have a ton of different choices because they still cherry pick the CPUs and GPUs that are on the market.
There are more emerging markets buying computers than there were 15+ years ago. 15 years ago, people were JUST starting to buy computers for the home and the internet was still brand new, now everything has become more mature. Apple’s still not going after every market the PC crowd is going after.
Didn’t Jobs say that he didn’t like dwelling on what Apple did in the past as much as he thought it was more important to look to the future and just learn from past mistakes? Or something along those lines?
Couldn’t possibly agree more. I just think they need to axe the MacBook Air and aggressively push the new MacBook into its place and get it over with.
Right, no not really. My fiancé had a stroke and is from Thailand and she uses the watch just fine. I do as well without any concern on apps used specialized one for business/medical
There’s nothing complex about Apple Watch line up. Aluminum, steel or gold in small and large and pick the band you want. What’s complicated about that?
considering a phone is used more often, daily, seen by more people etc – yet we have less choices kinda say something.
Apple then add cases to their iphone line up (similar idea to the apple watch having straps) yet only offers 2 materials in a limited color choice.
Watch sports – silver, black, rose gold, gold — 38mm or 42mm = 8 watch choices
What makes this complicated is that IF i want the Apple sport GOLD 38mm BUT with the midnight blue sports band — the sport band will not have a matching clasp (that band with the matching gold clasp is only with the 42mm) <– this is the same with the rose gold versions
Watch Steel — silver or space black — 38mm or 42mm = 4 watch choices
Watch Edition — 18 karat yellow gold or rose gold — in 38mm or 42mm — with matching crown = 8 watch choices.
then add 16 sport bands in either 38 or 42 plus 2 wrist sizes labeled as (S/M and M/L) and (M/L and L/XL) <– this confused me because i'm M
the you have the Milanese Loop, Classic Buckle (two colours), Leather Loop (4 colours), Modern Buckle (4 colours), and the Link Bracelet (2 colours).
All this compared to the iphone – 4 colours, 2 sizes, 3 internal storage size — done… To simplify it even more – if you want the older models (iphone 6, 6 plus, or 5S) then they only offer them in 2 sizes with 2 internal storage options… for cases – either leather (6 colours) or silicone (11 colours).
Of course there are many iphone covers to choose from, plus pouches, etc etc — but they are not made by Apple — i guess the difficult thing for iphone is choosing which network to be on…lol
ipads used to be easier too — ipad or ipad mini, 3 internal sizes, wifi or lte, in 2 colours — now ipad mini, ipad air, ipad pro, different internal lineup, more colours, old version and new versions — and now possibly ipad pro air standard size (or whatever the name will be)…with or without an apple pencil and keyboard… im surprised they didnt offer the keyboards in 12 colours like they do with the ipad covers…
Apple has become very confusing — the apple watches being the worse.
I don’t know about the rest but I feel Apple Watch is a product for the future. It was released way too soon. Why? I will explain.
I feel a wearable is something you should never worry agout charging. You should not have to think ‘oh I shouldn’t forget to charge my Apple Watch’. Charging a phone or laptop is also something we would prefer not do but I feel a wearable is almost like clothing and so it’s a big issue that you have to think about charging it.
Then there is the features issue. Apple Watch’s only feature at this moment is notifications, an app that follows your location and knows your travel habits will automatically show you the time of the next train back home because it knows you are at the train station and knows your usual journey (where you take the train and where you step out of it). This is awesome. But it’s not enough.
Fitness tracking is nowhere as it is now. We heard rumors that Apple initially wanted to integrate other sensors for not only more accurate reading of your activity and health for the Apple Watch and finally they didn’t add those sensors because they weren’t accurate enough.
Those are the 2 major reasons I feel it was too soon for Apple Watch. There is no killer feature, notifications aren’t good enough yet and fitness tracking isn’t either. They are beautiful yes, but that is it.
I think there was so much pressure on Apple having to come with the next revolutionary product that Apple didn’t cope with the pressure and released it too soon.
iPhone was missing a lot of things too when it first came out. I feel the watch right now is for early adopters and once it’s a really good product it will go mainstream.
Agreed. I wasn’t motivated to get an iPhone until the 3GS or 4. (I ended up not getting my own until the 5C as my old LG dumb phone just wouldn’t die). I’m not slightly interested in the AppleWatch right now. Talk to me again in about 5 years.
I love my Apple Watch! I wasn’t going to get a first gen version, but changed my mind in Nov and got it and have been wearing ti every day since!!! Sure Notifications are great. I can quickly glance and see when someone is coming and going from my house through the garage as that’s easier then the front door that rarely is used.
I like to take a quick glance and see what the temp is outside before I walk out of the house or leave from work. I quick glance to see what and when my next appointment is at. Or see who is calling in and even answer on my watch. That comes in handy and works quite well. Using the app HeartWatch, I can track my sleeping habits and heart rate during the night. The watches charges up fast enough I can throw it on the charger in bed a hour before and fully charge it up and in the morning when I wake up, take it off for 30 minutes to top it off while I do my morning things before work.
It’s cool when using Apple Maps, my Watch with show directional arrows for turns and do different taps for left and right turns so you don’t even have to look at anything. I can go on and on. I have no interest in wearing a normal watch, but the Apple Watch is now always on me. I did forget to put it on once a few weeks ago as I was in a rush when it was on the charger being topped off and I missed it!!!
It’s all the little things combined that make it great. There is no known battery tech that’s going to make it last for days, let alone week or longer. I could get around 2 days on my Apple Watch. It takes at most about 20 seconds to take of my watch and throw in onto the charging stand and about that fast to put it back on!!! I have to charge up my iPhone every day, I don’t think having to charge up the watch every day is big deal at all.
I think Apple put a lot of thought into the Apple Watch and released a great first gen product. One of the things I really love that I never thought about on my Simple watches is swapping bands. It’s so quick and easy. I can wear my Space gray Rummer one at work, and then install one of my Metal bands if I go out after work or on the weekend at it really takes under 30 seconds to do. I have my Space Grey band, plus Red, White and Blue, and 2 Metal bands. That’s 6 bands.
The killer feature IS the watch!!! Glad I got it and would buy another.
Personally, with the apple watch, i feel they should have just had the aluminium model to start with — this would have been their first watch.
Then in the second year introduce the steel edition — similarly to having the ipad and then ipad air.
Then for a limited time only around xmas have the luxury gold edition.
You should be able to choose any watch band too — which the watch straps should be seen like cases for iphones — they should have the sport straps, the everyday straps, and the luxury straps.
The silver, space grey, gold, pink (sorry…rose gold), should have waited for apple watch 2.
They more or less did too much too soon… one of the biggest problem is a lot of people were indecisive between the steel and sports edition — but because this was the first watch most went for the sports edition (just incase they didnt get along with it)…
By introducing the steel edition in the second year, those who liked the sports editions but wanted something newer could have upgraded — those new to the apple watch would have had a year to make a decision whether it was worth it and would be in a better frame of mind to consider the steel…
Most people dont want the 24k because they basically cant afford it — this is a luxury item — people are going to spend this kind of money around xmas and valentine day — making it a limited time only would have made more people want it.
As for the different colours — for a first time launch product it wasnt essential to have different colour metal — nor was it a good idea to trickle different colours out later… by releasing them a year or two later it would give the illusion that it is something new (when in fact it’s practically the same)
This is one thing that Apple have messed up on in recent years — yes people want upgrades of the internals, this is expected… but the exterior also has to change — why would someone pay a lot of money for a product that essentially looks like last years product — you might as well save yourself some money and get last years product — and this is what is starting to happen with Apple…
The ipad pro came out… most of what i heard was “it just looks like a giant ipad…why do i want a giant ipad when my current ipad is fine?”
With the iphone, already people are saying that because the design of the iphone isnt really changing (essentially just losing a port and moving the lines) people are hesitant in buying one.
A lot of people didnt buy the new macbook – partly because of the price, partly because of the single port was too much of a jump, but also because they could have bought the macbook pro for a similar price and better specs that was a similar size and slightly heavier — or opt for the much cheaper macbook air with better specs but older screen etc.
I remember when i first got a macbook – it was around 2000 — more or less you had 3 choices of macbook pro.. 13″, 15″, or 17″ … you then had the options to upgrade memory, CPU, and harddrive – plus a number of add-on options… now look at the mess… so many to choose from… most you can’t upgrade and have to go for a different model. — even with phones… good gravy — i now have 3 sizes to choose from, in 4 different colours, with different storage spaces to choose from.
In short… Apple has become very complex — and this is showing in the quality of their products… most of which are missing key features, keeping old tech, or just being released half finished… next week apple will be showing off new products – let’s just hope 2016 is better than 2015 (although i doubt it will be)
Is it just be or does Steve Wozniak look like the alien Alf? I mean don’t get me wrong, I love the guy, but you’ve got to say there is a resemblance.
Poor chap that’s hilarious. You’re right.
I like Woz and all, but he was 3 years old when Stalin died……Russia was NOT under Stalin when he was brought up. Nikita Khrushchev, yes.
Too many SKU’s, said Steve Jobs when he came back to Apple. Now they have 5x as many as they did back then, with quality failing as pointed out by famous Apple bloggers. When you spread yourself too thin, the quality goes down, it doesn’t matter how much money you have. Right now, Apple is at about 1991. Unfortunately, there’s no Steve Jobs to bail Apple out in 6 years.
Who cares about the “Woz”? Why is this news? Bring me someone relevant who isn’t living in the past!
Steve Waznaik: the former CEO of both Burberry and YSL.
It’s called fashion Steve. Fashion experts understand when you’re wearing a piece of technology on your wrist you need elegance, design and plenty of choice. Then people and especially women become more interested and buy different bands for different occasions and outfits. We’ve serveral CEOs of fashion houses working for Apple now. Offering Apple Watch in all these options was a considered deliberate choice. Apple knows exactly what it’s doing here.
In some instances choice is the right choice. A pick and mix candy store. A Lego store. Choice is good ‘sometimes’.
Apple could do away with the iPad Mini at least! To me it never even made sense as it’s really to small. Now it makes less sense because we have larger iPhone’s now.
I wanted to buy the silver SS Apple Watch with a black rubber band and I couldn’t. The black band is only available with the Space Black Apple Watch. So it was either the silver Watch with a white band, or a black Watch with a black band. This is stupid. Apple Watches “collections” are stupid.
I should be able to purchase the model that I want (silver sport, space grey sport, gold sport, rose gold sport, ss silver, ss black, gold, rose gold) and then purchase any of the bands available as a separate product.
I ended up buying the sport space grey and they lost $200 because they weren’t able to sell me what I wanted.
they used to sell the silver SS watch with black band and the only space black watch was the one with link bracelet. So this is a change. Apple is never going to sell the watch without a band but I think they should let you pick the color of the band. I get the feeling this was a marketing decision to find a way to get people to spend more money on bands or to upsell you to a more expensive model.
Woz the Hut!