Apple Co-Founder Talks Android Superiority vs iOS
[Updated at end of post] Apple co-founder Steve 'the Woz' Wozniak speaks out about the Android versus iPhone debate.
Oh Woz, between Dancing with the Stars and the Segway that seems to have been surgically attached to your feet, we just don't know what to make of you. Still, it's good to know you're not shy when it comes to talking about mobile phone platforms, even if it means backing Google's Android over the smartphone from the company you helped found.
Steve Wozniak hasn't been at Apple for a long time. In fact, the co-founder left the company completely in 1987, and, with more than 20 years worth of water under the bridge, it seems Woz is more than happy to talk up a competitor's product. In an interview with Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, Mr. Wozniak said he expected Android to beat out the iPhone eventually. However, Woz isn't writing off the iPhone just yet. Though he admitted that "Android phones have more features" and offer customers more options, he also said the felt the iPhone was still number one in terms of quality.
"The Apple phone has very few weaknesses," Woz said. "When it comes to quality, the iPhone is leading."
Interestingly, Woz also revealed that Apple had a smartphone developed in 2004 (three years before the launch of the first iPhone in June 2007) but that the company never launched it because they wanted something that could "surprise the world."
"If Apple comes [out] with a new product, it must have a real breakthrough," Wozniak said.
[Update] Uh oh! Steve is now claiming that he was misquoted in the De Telegraaf article. Woz says he would "never" say that Android was better than iOS, and that "almost every app I have is better on the iPhone." So what did Steve say to De Telegraaf? Well, the gadget god spoke to Engadget via phone and said that he gave the newspaper a detailed demo of voice commands on both iOS and Android, pointing out that Android offered the ability to say "Navigate to Joe's Diner." However, Woz says he also suggested that Apple would catch up through its purchases of Siri and Poly9. Click through to Engadget to read more on Woz's response to the De Telegraaf article.
Source: De Telegraaf via CNet
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Jane McEntegart works in marketing communications at Intel and was previously Manager of Content Marketing at ASUS North America. Before that, she worked for more than seven years at Tom's Guide and Tom's Hardware, holding such roles as Contributing Editor and Senior News Editor and writing about everything from smartphones to tablets and games consoles.