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Apple Co-Founder: Android Will Dominate the Smartphone Market

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Long time no see, hear, or smell, Wozniak: Apple’s co-founder and current shareholder Steve Wozniak – also affectionately known as “Woz” – has been in Netherlands news lately and spilled a couple of nice tidbits for us to sink our teeth into. We don’t care about the Apple-specific stuff he spewed, of course, but he did mention the competition of his former company’s mobile division: Android.

woz-android-tshirt

Woz acknowledged Android by saying that it’d eventually become the dominant operating system, not unlike what’s happened with the PC market in the past couple of decades (even with Apple seemingly making a roaring comeback in that regard.) He also said that while the iPhone is more of a quality experience overall, “Android phones have more features,” and offer more choice, and that the quality of the Android experience would match that provided by the iPhone in due time.

He had more to say to De Telegraaf – the Dutch publication who caught up with him – so be sure to read that translated material here.

[Image and story via Engadget]

Quentyn Kennemer
The "Google Phone" sounded too awesome to pass up, so I bought a G1. The rest is history. And yes, I know my name isn't Wilson.

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34 Comments

  1. HAS NO ONE NOTICED HIS T SHIRT?!

  2. sounds like hes the guy that actually made apple O.o

  3. im pretty sure that is photoshopped on there bud

  4. Hmmmm, nobody is mentioning his shirt. Quentyn, did you photoshop that? : )

  5. Unlike Steve Jobs, Woz is not living in some parallel dream world.

  6. @Tim I believe that’s Engadget’s doing ;)

  7. Holy shit. I just saw the og pic on engadget. He really is wearing an Android tshirt lol

  8. I’m more alarmed by the fact that he may or may not be commuting on a segway.

  9. Or maybe not. It’s too early for this haha

  10. What Woz said I agree with and have said for over a year regarding android and iOS, I had an apple II, then later, an apple 2GS “woz”edition (which I still play with once in awhile). Steve Jobs, while a skeevy, condescending guy, made good products. However, what almost killed apple in the late 80s and 90s was the same business practice he follows today; lock everything down. Apple had an exclusive att contract in the US, at least, which sucks for a lot for people who had interest in the iphone . A lot of people either hate or can’t get att signals in their area. Another major eventual downfall is simply this: there are, what? four iphones, and just

  11. Interesting to see. I’m sure that he had more to say about apple and boasted about them. I am sure that this is part of what he said and it’s plain to see that this is most definitely his opinion.

    Everyone knows that Android will eventually dominate the smartphone market for more than the factors that have been listed above by Woz.

    Anyways, Thanks for the article.

  12. Slightly different iterations? How many phones do we have in the family now? I don’t feel like searching….well over fifty….a hundred? If not 100 globally,it must be close to it. I recall a Phandroid article I Once read which said”when there is no limit to what Droid gets, there is no limit to what Droid does.” And “when there is no limit to how much weight Big Red throws behind Android, there is no limit as to how far Android will go.” Turning out to be VERY true.

  13. Sorry, posts 10 and 12 were supposed to be a single post, but was broken in two.

  14. haha love this guy. We taking over. Love the shirt

  15. @DJ – That’s OK. It may not be as gratifying, but sometimes you gotta’ break it in two to get the job done.

  16. Always hated Jobs, always loved Woz…when he left, Apple went from “that’s pretty neat, but I don’t want it” to “Apple needs to DIE”

  17. It is modified image. If you zoom in close enough, you can see that they did not complete the full android where his lanyard comes together to hold his badge.

  18. Just a “new apple product” I thought I’d post from chuckles;
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA
    The new version without a wheel,screen or harddrive looks great! And four ounces lighter!

  19. for android its quantity over quality

    of course android will dominate but by sheer numbers of phones out there not because its better

  20. Apple doesn’t need to die, if it wasnt for apple we’d be stuck in microsofts and googles parallel universe of a windows interface that hasn’t changed since win95 (20 years) and beta, buggy, cloud everything from google.

    Get real people, Apple is the catalyst that this industry and the world needs to push the boundaries of the massive corp greed of m$ and google.

    You really think there would be ipods, iphones and ipads if it wasn’t for Apple? No one else could even think of doing it because they are either s/w cos or h/w cos, not both like Apple.

  21. @DJ-I detest At&t and am not a customer, but again I have to ask. Why is it that ALL my friend with iPhones have signal problems, but the others with Blackberries and regular phones don’t. Me thinks it is the phone. Purely based on my experience living in major metropolitan areas.

  22. @ Daniel

    I generally agree with you about quality vs quantity. But my definition of quality isn’t only about user experience, and smoothness. It’s also about what you can do with it. Sort of like comparing a Honda CRV (iOS) to a Jeep Wrangler (Android).

  23. @mindo Agreed to that… It was Apple (not MS or Google) who introduced GUI to the world (even though it was copied from Xerox).

  24. Corect Calypso, Im on AT&T and have not had a dropped call or signal issues in past decade since they were originaly Cell 1, then Cingular and now just AT&T. Don’t blame AT&T, blame the phone imho…….. I’ve been with every carrier and I’ve had verying issues with every single one except AT&T. I don’t see what all the hate is about other then them having the iPhone exclusively to be honest.

  25. @Daniel & mindo: always nice to see the Apple fanbois chime in.

  26. @mindo
    All corps are out to make money, and Apple is as bad as any in terms of greed. Meanwhile Google open sources what could have been otherwise valuable code, gives 1% of company assets and profit to charity, and gives all of their services away for free. You call that greed? Meanwhile, you think Apple invented the mp3 player, smartphone, or the tablet? They were all here before Apple got into them. And if Apple didn’t make them mainstream, someone else would have. It may have taken longer, but it would have happened.
    But, I didn’t set out to talk about how I hate Apple, it was more of an aside. More that I used to like Apple before Woz left.

  27. Moto’s launching of a new corporate identity in 6 weeks begins with the shiny new Droid Terminator. Woz wants one. Who wouldn’t? Jobs should stick a fork in himself, he’s pretty well overdone at this point.

  28. @Little Green

    LOL!!! I didnt notice that …..nice..

  29. Woz is right. But I think Android and iOS are actually trying for very different things.

    Android is an attempt to create a standardized base platform for mobile computing, which can be tweaked/modified for multiple device types. Their goal is /quantity/; they want to have broad coverage, as many devices as possible in as many places as possible. They are succeeding.

    iOS is an attempt to create a tightly-integrated mobile experience across a handful of well-known and well-controlled device types. Their goal is /quality/; specifically they want to be the best-selling single handset at the high end of the market. They are also succeeding in that goal.

    I can’t name one individual Android handset model that /on its own/ outsells the iPhone. For that matter, I can’t name one specific non-Apple laptop that outsells the MacBook Pro, either. Windows laptops as a whole outsell Macs, yes, and Android handsets as a whole outsell iOS devices. And I don’t honestly think Apple cares in either case; they don’t seem to think about their marketshare that way.

    And if things work that way for them, more power to them. As was noted above, they’re willing to poke down darkened paths that other companies won’t. Sometimes that path lands them in a puddle of mud (first generation Apple TV, anyone?), and sometimes they wander into Aladdin’s cave (iPhone, later iPad) and other manufacturers follow them in to search for treasure as well. But consistently, Apple are the ones willing to take that first jump because they control their whole platform. I mean, can you imagine Motorola trying to completely redefine the smartphone like Apple did? (“Let’s get rid of all the buttons and make the entire face glass!”)

    I hope both stay around a long time, because as folks like to say, “Competition is good.” Android will provide the pressure on Apple to keep improving iOS rather than being complacent (and god knows there are some parts of iOS that could use help… notifications being a huge oversight). And when Apple looks for ways to improve, they’re willing to poke into darkened caves and see what they find. And sometimes what they find is gold and everyone starts mining it; then we benefit, whether or not we agree with how Apple themselves use that gold.

  30. This is nothing new. He did a pretty good job of describing the market accurately. Apple tends to provide a little more polish at the cost of capability or flexibility. There is nothing wrong with this. People buy Acuras all the time even though they aren’t much different than Accords with slightly higher build quality. There is nothing wrong with boutique or luxury brands. As long as I can get something that does the same things or more and costs less or gives me more options, I don’t really care what someone else uses.

    Yeah, it’s annoying to techies when people shell out for something that does less because it comes in a nicer package but it isn’t my money. I really stopped giving a shit once there were lots of Android options on all carriers. As long as I have a good option for me then others can spend all they want on Apple/ATT.

  31. 29. Rachel and 30. jerbear both made excellent points. Competetion is the driving engine for both innovation and continuous improvement.

  32. I doubt Google would invest in Android if there was no iJunk in all it’s forms. Competition is the key. As much I dislike Apple, it’s philosophy & products on all markets, they inspire others to do better & at reasonable prices.

    I’ve used (not owned) and attempted to support almost every product Apple ever made, it was the worst experience ever. For some unknown reason, majority of apple users still believer otherwise. They say apple products have the least amt of problems, and apple has the best support. Do they? No, it’s adequate, just like any other. I used most of them out there. You don’t hear the Indian accent :)

    People always support Apple’s success with profits. I only agree with the competition aspect, Apple is successful at inspiring others to do it right. As far as apple’s profits – have to give credit to Steve, they do have a great marketing team. They spend a good chunk to make sure iJunk is in every blockbuster :) iJunk magazines, bloggers, fancy stands at mobile providers :) Glad to know I’m not the one paying for that !!!

  33. Wow AT&T does suck at times I’ve neve had one signal prob from Amy of my iPhones but tue iPhone 4 had it’s signal problem and android is a company that makes software so how come everyone compares android to iPhone an iPhone is an apple while some android phones are samsung or motorolla or htc the list goes on the droid x and the evo r the only two phones that touch an iPhone n yes they r better in spots in not in others ever iPhone hater is the person who never owned one that said android will take over but as a company not as a phone it’s just software ppl give props to whoever made ur android phone not just android

  34. Quoted from Rachel #29: “I can’t name one individual Android handset model that /on its own/ outsells the iPhone.”

    Comparing sales of an individual iPhone model with and individual smartphone that runs Android is a very unfair comparison. The reason is that if you want a phone running iOS, you are pretty well forced to accept something farther away from what you specifically want than if you want a phone running Android.

    The lack of selection on the iOS platform is one of the reasons that made me look elsewhere. When it comes to an iOS phone, there is a lack of choices. I’m forced to accept something that is probably adequate for my needs, but may be deficient in some feature that I really want. For instance, I want a physical keyboard, but don’t care about video calls. I’m out of luck on the iOS platform. I may be OK with the touch screen keyboard, but the secondary camera is a feature that I’m paying for, but will not use.

    There is an Android phone (HTC Desire Z) that has a physical keyboard that I want, but not a secondary camera which I do not need. I’m getting the feature that I want and am not paying for a feature I do not need. The variety of handsets running Android allows me to pick something that suites me more than a general handset that tries to satisfy everyone.

    I have no doubt that the Desire Z is going to outsell many other phones. The reason is that I think that not a large number of users want or need a physical keyboard. I think that many Android phones are aimed at a smaller market segment than the iPhone and will get fewer sales as a result.

    Another reason that the iPhone 4 sells really well is the lack of other models of phones that run iOS. If you want an iOS phone, you have one (current) choice. If Apple made (or allowed other manufacturers to make) a larger variety of iOS handsets with different features, the iPhone 4 as is will likely not sell as well. I would attribute one reason for strong sales of the iPhone 4 model is the lack of other current phones running iOS.

    Comparing sales of iPhone 4 to another model is just a meaningless stat for comparing an iPhone 4 to another phone.

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