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'Other Steve' on Apple and the next big thing
By Zhu Shenshen |
September 23, 2012, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
STEVE Wozniak, who was called "the other Steve" by Steve Jobs, is still a geek at heart, just as he was three decades ago when he founded Apple with Jobs.
On a recent visit to Shanghai, the Apple cofounder provided a glimpse into the culture and driving principles behind Apple, considered the global standard bearer for innovation. The company founded by the two Steves has not only changed how people think about technology, but has also revolutionized modern life.
At the ICSC (International Council of Shopping Centers) Retail Real Estate World Summit last week, Wozniak, often known as Woz, discussed Apple's development, the iPhone 5, the patent dispute between Apple and Samsung and the next big thing in information technology.
The amiable, self-deprecating Woz gestures broadly and laughs a lot. During a break in the forum at which he spoke, he took time to shake hands and exchange business cards with the summit attendants while businessmen waited for face time the Apple cofounder who insists he doesn't know much about business or sales. His net worth has been estimated by the website The Richest People at around US$100 million.
It all started in a garage in California in the summer of 1970.
"Jobs and I were best friends since we were 16 years old, and we did something remarkable in our 20s," Wozniak said in Shanghai.
He and Jobs became friends in 1970. Jobs had the idea of selling a computer as a fully assembled printed circuit board.
At first skeptical, Wozniak was later convinced to make the machine. In 1976, they officially formed Apple Computer. Wozniak quit his job at Hewlett-Packard and became Apple's vice president in charge of research and development, while Jobs focused on planning and sales.
In 1977 the two launched Apple II, the first personal computer that could display color graphics, a major achievement for early Apple and the PC industry.
Faster chips and lower power consumption has always been Apple's target, as it is today with the iPhone 5, Wozniak said.
He is quoted in Walter Isaacson's book "Steve Jobs" on the Apple II: "We were participating in the biggest revolution that had ever happened, I thought. I was so happy to be a part of it."
After sustaining injuries during an airline crash in 1981, Wozniak gradually left Apple to pursue an academic degree and personal interests. He officially left apple in 1987, 12 years after creating the company.
He remains a shareholder and maintained connections with Steve Jobs until Jobs' death in October 2011. He attended launch events for the iPod, iPhone and iPad and could be seen lining up outside Apple stores on debut days to buy the latest device.
"I like Apple's culture and image forever," Wozniak said. "It has changed the way we live."
In the post Apple period, he founded Wheels of Zeus (WoZ) to create wireless GPS technology to "help everyday people find everyday things much more easily."
After WoZ was closed in 2006, Wozniak founded several other tech start-ups.
He has generously funded technology programs in his local school district in California.
Asked whether technology makes people use their brains less and less, he replied, "Computers push our brain programs to keep the world running."
Here are major points from his Shanghai speech and recent interviews
Q: What's the next big thing?
A: Voice recognition and artificial intelligence. People can find many related applications on the iPhone and other devices with Google's systems. Devices will become smart enough to communicate with and understand human beings. Examples include iPhone's Siri and Google Glass. Through cameras and monitors, devices can see your face, analyze motion and take the best action.
Q: What do you think of the iPhone 5?
A: I am always excited about every iPhone product because there are always good advances. A better quality on the pictures will mean a lot, because when I show people pictures on my iPhone 4 and my Galaxy S III, they always say the Galaxy S III's, or even the Motorola Razr's pictures look better.
A faster and lower power-consumption processor is on the iPhone. That's the thing I work hard for in the past 32 years. That's the thing I've loved for the past 32 years.
With enhanced Siri, I can check flight schedules from Beijing to Shanghai through words. I don't want the search engine and that's the future of computers.
Q: What's your view of the Samsung and Apple patent dispute? (Samsung was ordered by the end of last month by a court in California to pay US$1 billion to Apple for copying the iPhone design.)
A: I hate it. I don't think the decision will hold. And I don't agree with it - very small things, I don't really call that innovative.
I wish everybody would just agree to exchange all the patents and everybody can build the best forms they want using everybody's technologies.
On a recent visit to Shanghai, the Apple cofounder provided a glimpse into the culture and driving principles behind Apple, considered the global standard bearer for innovation. The company founded by the two Steves has not only changed how people think about technology, but has also revolutionized modern life.
At the ICSC (International Council of Shopping Centers) Retail Real Estate World Summit last week, Wozniak, often known as Woz, discussed Apple's development, the iPhone 5, the patent dispute between Apple and Samsung and the next big thing in information technology.
The amiable, self-deprecating Woz gestures broadly and laughs a lot. During a break in the forum at which he spoke, he took time to shake hands and exchange business cards with the summit attendants while businessmen waited for face time the Apple cofounder who insists he doesn't know much about business or sales. His net worth has been estimated by the website The Richest People at around US$100 million.
It all started in a garage in California in the summer of 1970.
"Jobs and I were best friends since we were 16 years old, and we did something remarkable in our 20s," Wozniak said in Shanghai.
He and Jobs became friends in 1970. Jobs had the idea of selling a computer as a fully assembled printed circuit board.
At first skeptical, Wozniak was later convinced to make the machine. In 1976, they officially formed Apple Computer. Wozniak quit his job at Hewlett-Packard and became Apple's vice president in charge of research and development, while Jobs focused on planning and sales.
In 1977 the two launched Apple II, the first personal computer that could display color graphics, a major achievement for early Apple and the PC industry.
Faster chips and lower power consumption has always been Apple's target, as it is today with the iPhone 5, Wozniak said.
He is quoted in Walter Isaacson's book "Steve Jobs" on the Apple II: "We were participating in the biggest revolution that had ever happened, I thought. I was so happy to be a part of it."
After sustaining injuries during an airline crash in 1981, Wozniak gradually left Apple to pursue an academic degree and personal interests. He officially left apple in 1987, 12 years after creating the company.
He remains a shareholder and maintained connections with Steve Jobs until Jobs' death in October 2011. He attended launch events for the iPod, iPhone and iPad and could be seen lining up outside Apple stores on debut days to buy the latest device.
"I like Apple's culture and image forever," Wozniak said. "It has changed the way we live."
In the post Apple period, he founded Wheels of Zeus (WoZ) to create wireless GPS technology to "help everyday people find everyday things much more easily."
After WoZ was closed in 2006, Wozniak founded several other tech start-ups.
He has generously funded technology programs in his local school district in California.
Asked whether technology makes people use their brains less and less, he replied, "Computers push our brain programs to keep the world running."
Here are major points from his Shanghai speech and recent interviews
Q: What's the next big thing?
A: Voice recognition and artificial intelligence. People can find many related applications on the iPhone and other devices with Google's systems. Devices will become smart enough to communicate with and understand human beings. Examples include iPhone's Siri and Google Glass. Through cameras and monitors, devices can see your face, analyze motion and take the best action.
Q: What do you think of the iPhone 5?
A: I am always excited about every iPhone product because there are always good advances. A better quality on the pictures will mean a lot, because when I show people pictures on my iPhone 4 and my Galaxy S III, they always say the Galaxy S III's, or even the Motorola Razr's pictures look better.
A faster and lower power-consumption processor is on the iPhone. That's the thing I work hard for in the past 32 years. That's the thing I've loved for the past 32 years.
With enhanced Siri, I can check flight schedules from Beijing to Shanghai through words. I don't want the search engine and that's the future of computers.
Q: What's your view of the Samsung and Apple patent dispute? (Samsung was ordered by the end of last month by a court in California to pay US$1 billion to Apple for copying the iPhone design.)
A: I hate it. I don't think the decision will hold. And I don't agree with it - very small things, I don't really call that innovative.
I wish everybody would just agree to exchange all the patents and everybody can build the best forms they want using everybody's technologies.
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