Apple co-founder believes iPod has about run its course
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak this week likened the iPod to a fad whose days atop the consumer electronics market are numbered while lamenting the limitations of the iPhone 3G, for which he'd like to write certain applications but can't due to restrictions.
"The iPod has sort of lived a long life at number one," he told The Telegraph in an exclusive interview. "Things like that, if you look back to transistor radios and Walkmans, they kind of die out after a while."
Woz, who retired from the daily grind at Apple more than 20 years ago, says the media players are approaching a saturation point where "everyone has got one or two or three." It gets to the point, he adds, where they "get real cheap," become omnipresent, and don't sell as well as a result.
He also spoke out about the direction Apple has chose for the iPhone, specifically the limitations the company has imposed on developers, which, in his opinion, stifle innovation.
"Consumers aren't getting all they want when companies are very proprietary and lock their products down," he said, arguing in favor of Google's open approach to the Android platform that offers developers more freedom. "I would like to write some more powerful apps than what you're allowed."
Woz is also hesitant to embrace the cult following that Apple has managed to achieve. While it may provide some shelter during times of economic recession -- given that loyalists are likely to remain devoted in their purchase decisions -- it also stands in opposition to change.
"I would like to have the users influence the next generation," he said. "With a religion you're not allowed to challenge anything. I want our customers to challenge us."
Woz, who is consider naming his child Zowoz "because it's a palindrome," offhandedly remarked that Apple's next big thing could be an "iWatch," claiming that nobody, including chief executive Steve Jobs, really has the foresight into the next blockbuster gadget.
"I think he would be sitting there [unaware] right up until the day it is introduced," he said of Jobs.
In his interview with The Telegraph, Woz also sides with analysts who've recently downgraded Apple stock and predicts that Web 2.0 and social networking websites could be in a for a mini version of the dotcom crash that erased $5 trillion in market cap near the turn of the century.
"The iPod has sort of lived a long life at number one," he told The Telegraph in an exclusive interview. "Things like that, if you look back to transistor radios and Walkmans, they kind of die out after a while."
Woz, who retired from the daily grind at Apple more than 20 years ago, says the media players are approaching a saturation point where "everyone has got one or two or three." It gets to the point, he adds, where they "get real cheap," become omnipresent, and don't sell as well as a result.
He also spoke out about the direction Apple has chose for the iPhone, specifically the limitations the company has imposed on developers, which, in his opinion, stifle innovation.
"Consumers aren't getting all they want when companies are very proprietary and lock their products down," he said, arguing in favor of Google's open approach to the Android platform that offers developers more freedom. "I would like to write some more powerful apps than what you're allowed."
Woz is also hesitant to embrace the cult following that Apple has managed to achieve. While it may provide some shelter during times of economic recession -- given that loyalists are likely to remain devoted in their purchase decisions -- it also stands in opposition to change.
"I would like to have the users influence the next generation," he said. "With a religion you're not allowed to challenge anything. I want our customers to challenge us."
Woz, who is consider naming his child Zowoz "because it's a palindrome," offhandedly remarked that Apple's next big thing could be an "iWatch," claiming that nobody, including chief executive Steve Jobs, really has the foresight into the next blockbuster gadget.
"I think he would be sitting there [unaware] right up until the day it is introduced," he said of Jobs.
In his interview with The Telegraph, Woz also sides with analysts who've recently downgraded Apple stock and predicts that Web 2.0 and social networking websites could be in a for a mini version of the dotcom crash that erased $5 trillion in market cap near the turn of the century.
Comments
While I respect Woz, and completely agree with what he says about apple's restrictions on the developers... I don't think Jobs is as completely oblivious to the next "gadget" as he says.
I also agree with him that more consumers should CHALLENGE apple. Make them produce products they want. ahem*xMac*ahem.
I'll tell you what? He lacks the software skills for such high level develop to pull it off. He never had them and its clear ever since the days he designed computer hardware. He's not a software engineer. He was a hardware engineer.
As long as people want to carry around their music, they will be using an iPod.
Woz, who is consider naming his child Zowoz "because it's a palindrome," offhandedly remarked that Apple's next big thing could be an "iWatch," claiming that nobody, including chief executive Steve Jobs, really has the foresight into the next blockbuster gadget.
first of all, PLEASE spare the child. Zowoz? wtf?!
secondly, I'd buy an iwatch if it was my cell phone, mp3 player, etc..
Each day there are thousands of kids reaching the age where they want to download and carry music around. Then there are international markets to be reached. Then there are the existing iPod owners who need to replace their units or want the new, improved model. So the iPod market isn't going away anytime soon. This almost sounds like sour grapes from Woz.
Woz should stick with what he knows. What he has never known is the average consumer. He's a geek with no social skills. And I love him to death, but he's way out of his league here.
The same goes for all his talk of "Open" software platforms. Geeks love to talk about the Utopia that is Open Source. But no one has ever made a truly successful business model out of pure open source practices. (Except maybe Google, but even they are on thin ice with the coming economic downturn.)
And of course no one will be using an iPod in five years. They'll be using a cell phone that has an iPod built into it. Good thing Apple thought ahead and already made one of those.
It's fine that he shoots off his mouth every now and then. Keeps everyone on their toes.
Now that that journey is over, I look forward to the next one
While the Woz is obviously a legend and a hardware engineering genius, he's also a huge nerd. "iWatch"? Do you know anyone who wears a watch anymore? And didn't Gates talk about that five years ago?
I wear a watch!!! It's a black Fossil, so it's not a gadget or a calculator watch with buttons all over it. By the way, 80% of the people I know wear a watch.
I wear a watch!!! It's a black Fossil, so it's not a gadget or a calculator watch with buttons all over it. By the way, 80% of the people I know wear a watch.
The death of the watch has been greatly exaggerated. A watch is a far more reliable piece of technology than a cell phone.
Woz sure sounds like he does not hold any Apple stock any more (Hint: It might be a good time to buy, Woz!).
Woz is to Apple what Bill Clinton is to Obama. The good news is he's goofy enough and nice enough that we all give him a pass. We can all just chuckle about it and remind ourselves that he rides a segway.
I don't see a lot of Model Ts driving around and Ford really saturated that market good. Turns out people buy new technology. So Apple's goal is to keep innovating. I will buy thousands of computers and iPods and gadgets in my lifetime. Just for the fun of it.
While the iPod has become long in the tooth, there isn't anything we know of in development to replace it.
As long as people want to carry around their music, they will be using an iPod.
The thing is that the iPod is morphing, what you say by iPod now is not what it will mean in the years to come. What it is now is not what it was three years ago, and the landscape will be very different in three years. It's evolving a lot quicker than computers do. I think the predictions about the phone and touch replacing the more conventional models may well run true.
... Apple co-founder says iPod has about run its course...
It's worth noting that Wozniak actually says nothing of the sort in the article.
One could certainly imply from his statements that he believes something to that effect, or that he believes that the iPod is *approaching* that status, or will inevitably *achieve* that status, but he does not actually say anywhere that this is the case with the iPod today.
He actually just says something rather obvious. That all products have cycles of popularity or their "time at the top" and that the iPod is no exception. He further says that the iPod has reached a sort of level of ubiquitousness, but doesn't comment on when or if the decline will take place.
This is why journalists go to school and bloggers are not journalists.
I wear a watch!!! It's a black Fossil, so it's not a gadget or a calculator watch with buttons all over it. By the way, 80% of the people I know wear a watch.
Hel I just went out and bought 5 new watches (different style watch, for different dress options once a geek, always a geek
Skip
PS 2 Guess Watches, a Bulova and 2 Natica
Woz was a world class hardware engineer. And maybe that's as broad as his talents reach. He needs to stop commenting on all-things Apple as they make me cringe.
Woz is to Apple what Bill Clinton is to Obama. The good news is he's goofy enough and nice enough that we all give him a pass. We can all just chuckle about it and remind ourselves that he rides a segway.
I don't see a lot of Model Ts driving around and Ford really saturated that market good. Turns out people buy new technology. So Apple's goal is to keep innovating. I will buy thousands of computers and iPods and gadgets in my lifetime. Just for the fun of it.
I'm looking forward to the day I can slap a 6"x2" flexible clear membrane Apple computer on my arm that runs on solar power and thermal body heat, enables me to communicate with other computer users through a subvocalization mic and is constantly tapped into a global neural network.
When can I pick one up?
Glor