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Steve Wozniak takes more shots at Apple and its closed philosophy

Updated Dec 19th, 2018 8:37PM EST
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Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs had very different views of what Apple (AAPL) should be. The outspoken Jobs eventually overruled his partner and built the Cupertino-based company into one of the most successful companies of all time. During an “ask me anything” event on Tuesday, Wozniak responded to a question regarding his opinion of Apple and its current practices and as you may expect, the open-source advocate had some harsh words for his former company.

“Like all of us who appreciate the quality of Apple products, I have mixed feelings,” said Wozniak. “I grew up with core values of openness and sharing of technology. When I ran dial-a-joke it was illegal to own, use or purchase your own telephone or answering machine. You couldn’t connect anything to the phone jack except that which you leased from AT&T. You had little choice and there was no room for outside innovators. We techies all said this was a bad thing. You probably see the parallel.”

The co-founder went on to point out that once upon a time Apple released software on competing platforms, such as its release of iTunes on Windows. Something has recently changed, however: As Wozniak points out, iTunes isn’t available on Android.

“Apple’s real rise from the small market-share Macintosh company to the iProducts of today began with iTunes and the iPod,” he said. “This turned out to be a 2nd huge business which roughly doubled Apple’s ‘size’. If you remember, we ported iTunes to Windows. We now addressed 100% of the world’s market with this integrated system (iPod/iTunes) and it began the era of Apple that we are now in. So why don’t we port iTunes to Android? Did something get closed up? I love Apple products and iTunes and wish it were on my Android products too.”

Wozniak did note that as a shareholder, “Apple seems to stand alone in profit market share. So the course they are taking is a good one. It’s hard to guess whether profits would be greater or lesser under hypothetical scenarios.”

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Dan joins the BGR team as the Android Editor, covering all things relating to Google’s premiere operating system. His work has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business and Yahoo News, among other publications. When he isn’t testing the latest devices or apps, he can be found enjoying the sights and sounds of New York City.