Steve Wozniak Criticises Apple For Becoming A ‘Jewellery’ Producer

Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak has hit out at the Apple Watch, saying the move into the “jewellery market” means he no longer recognises the company he co-created.

Wozniak’s comments were on Reddit, after he responded to a question about what he thought of the performance of chief executive Tim Cook.

Watch Criticism

Wozniak said that Tim Cook is doing a good job as he is “continuing to strong tradition that Steve Jobs was known for of making good products that help people do things they want to do in their life, and not taking the company into roads of, ‘Oh, we’ll make all our money like by knowing you and advertising to you.’”

“And you know, I started out as a hardware product guy, so I’m glad to see that,” said Wozniak.

But he made clear he has some concerns about the current direction of Apple, namely its wearable device foray.

“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,” said Wozniak.

“The only difference is the band in all those watches,” he added, pointing to the fact that Apple users can spend a varying amount of money on the watch. “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.”

Wozniak also added his backing to new versions of iOS, and likes the ability to transfer calls from his phone to his computer. He also said he “loved” Airplay, Apple’s proprietary protocol that allows wireless streaming of audio, video, etc between devices.

“So, I love the software, and I love the hardware, and nothing’s letting me down,” said Wozniak. “So I approve very strongly of Tim Cook and the new Apple. I dearly miss Steve Jobs too, but, that’s all.”

FBI Battle

Wozniak also came out firmly on the side of Tim Cook, over his refusal to help the FBI unlock the iPhone belonging to the San Bernardino terrorist Syed Rizwan Farook..

“You know what, I have things in my head, some very special people in my life that I don’t talk about, that mean so much to me from the past. Those little things that I keep in my head are my little secrets,” Wozniak wrote.

“It’s a part of my important world, my whole essence of my being. I also believe in honesty. 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,” he said.

“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,” said Wozniak.

“So, I come from the side of personal liberties,” he said, “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.”

Personal Opinions

Wozniak has never been afraid of speaking his mind and letting the world know his feelings on certain matters.

Last year for example he predicted that humanity will be controlled by artificial intelligence (AI) and that robots would treat humans as their pets.

He has also previously said that Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS has a more beautiful interface than the iPhone (although the iPhone remained his favourite smartphone).

He has also revealed he is fan of Android and said that it is better than the iPhone in many ways. He criticised Siri and said Android’s voice recognition was better than Apple’s version.

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