14 DAY TRIAL // Recently interviewed by The Telegraph, Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak revealed that he believed the iPod had just about run its course, while the iPhone 3G was far from flawless. Woz also weighed in on the Web 2.0 revolution and what is (potentially) Apple's upcoming product.
"The iPod has sort of lived a long life at number one," said Woz, when asked about Apple's popular media playing device. "Things like, that if you look back to transistor radios and Walkmans, they kind of die out after a while. It's kind of like everyone has got one or two or three. You get to a point when they are on display everywhere, they get real cheap and they are not selling as much."
Woz badmouthed the iPhone as well, saying "consumers aren't getting all they want when companies are very proprietary and lock their products down.” Comparing the iPhone's closed operating system with Google's new Android open source system, Woz said “[he] would like to write some more powerful apps than what you're allowed."
And, while competitors would give an arm and a leg for Apple's customer loyalty, both Wozniak and Jobs "don't like the fact that it's a bit of a religion," he said, as quoted by The Telegraph. "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."
As far as the whole computer industry is concerned, the Apple co-founder believes we are living in a time where “the whole computer industry [should] maybe have a bit of a slowdown. For twenty years we have been in this replacement and upgrade market," he says. "It is very easy to postpone that when there are financial irregularities." Woz adds that, in his opinion, the Web 2.0 revolution has been over-financed and could lead to a mini-crash in technology stocks.
Pressed to speak his mind on upcoming Apple products, Woz said that "nobody, not even Steve Jobs" knows what's next. "I think he would be sitting there [unaware] right up until the day it is introduced." He did say the word "iWatch" at one point, though.