AppleInsider Staff"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.
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145 Comments
It's true, the iPod is saturated. I think at this point all that is left is the rest of the world and lower income families. I have purchased 4 and an iPhone 3g. Admittingly, I'll probably purchase another nano for running... but refurbished most likely.
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.
Woz sounds like he is self medicating. Completely off in left field. Great spelling and grammar in this article BTW
What's stop the man from writing for the Desktop World?
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.
Woz for all his genius was more an engineer and not the visionary of Apple. He makes some obvious points about iPods and saturation but this is true of all technologies, evolve or go extinct. Just look at what has happened to the telephone and the first recorded music player and you will see how people will always want the ability to communicate at a distance and being entertained with music. The next big gadget? If history tells us anything it will be based on gadgets we use today but most like a smaller and more portable version.
Sure, as a music player, many many people do have a flavor of iPod. But the market is wide open again for the Touch/iPhone platform. Getting a Touch in everyone's hands will send a lot more business Apple's way than music ever did.