A mindset that the late Steve Jobs would have probably frowned upon

Oct 5, 2012 17:31 GMT  ·  By

In a Q&A session with the Slashdot community, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has issued a bold opinion regarding iTunes, and how the company at 1 Infinite Loop would do the world a favor by porting it to Android.

Set aside the fact that Steve Jobs was so disgusted by Android that he wanted to go “thermonuclear” on it, this is exactly the kind of thinking that Apple’s late visionary genius did not approve of. Which is why the two Steves eventually went their separate ways in the '80s.

That’s not to say Wozniak is wrong. It’s just that he puts the people first, then the money. And, for a company to be successful, it has to juggle both. No exceptions.

“Let's look at Apple. Apple's real rise from the small market-share Macintosh company to the iProducts of today began with iTunes and the iPod. This turned out to be the second huge business which roughly doubled Apple's ‘size’,” said Wozniak.

“If you remember, we ported iTunes to Windows. We now addressed 100% of the world's market with this integrated system (iPod/iTunes) and it began the era of Apple that we are now in,” he continued.

“I love Apple products and iTunes and wish it were on my Android products too,” said the Woz. “So why don't we port iTunes to Android? Did something get closed up?”

Well, for starters, Apple probably wants to keep iDevice sales going. Imagine porting the entire iTunes experience to competing devices. What’s in it for Apple to just offer a huge selection of music, movies, even apps, to its biggest rivals?

iTunes is like an adhesive that keeps the entire Apple ecosystem airtight. It’s worked like a charm for the past decade, contributing immensely to the company’s multi-billion dollar valuation. Why would Apple risk diluting their super glue?