Steve Wozniak reddit AMA Touches On iPhone Encryption, How He ‘Worries A Little Bit’ About Apple
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak never seems afraid to speak his mind. What he has to say isn't always in favor of the company he helped create, either. We got to see a little bit of that in his recent Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on reddit in which the Woz covered a variety of topics, as well as his concern for Apple.
When asked what Apple CEO Tim Cook is doing right and wrong in his opinion, Wozniak responded with plenty of praise by saying Cook is carrying on the strong tradition that Steve Jobs was known for, which entailed "making good products that help people do things they want to do in their life" rather than advertising crummy products. However, he's not as sold on the Apple Watch strategy.
"I worry a little bit about - I mean I love my Apple Watch, but - it's taken us into a jewelry market where you're going to buy a watch between $500 or $1,100 based on how important you think you are as a person," Wozniak said. "The only difference is the band in all those watches. Twenty watches from $500 to $1,100. The band's the only difference? Well this isn't the company that Apple was originally, or the company that really changed the world a lot. So it might be moving, but you've got to follow, you know. You've got to follow the paths of where the markets are."
For everything else, Wozniak says he approves "very strongly of Tim Cook and the new Apple," including the stance Cook has taken with the FBI over iPhone encryption. In case you're not aware, Apple is fighting a court order that would force the company to assist the FBI with breaking into an iPhone 5c handset that belonged to one of the San Bernardino shooters. Apple's concern is that building a backdoor into iOS would set a dangerous precedent while simultaneously leaving hundreds of millions of iPhones vulnerable.
"You know what, I have things in my head, some very special people in my life that I don't talk about, that mean so much to me from the past. Those little things that I keep in my head are my little secrets," Wozniak said in response to a question about his thought on Apple's fight with the FBI. "It's a part of my important world, my whole essence of my being. I also believe in honesty. If you tell somebody, 'I am not snooping on you' or 'I am giving you some level of privacy; I will not look in your drawers' then you should keep your word and be honest."
Wozniak also brought up a story he told previously about having written Mac viruses in the past. The thought of that code falling into the wrong hands gave him a "chill inside" and he ultimately discarded the source code.
"These are dangerous, dangerous things, and if some code gets written in an Apple product that lets people in, bad people are going to find their way to it, very likely," Wozniak said.
There are plenty of other tidbits in the AMA, including Wozniak's reputation for pulling pranks and the fact that he views himself as a shy person. Who would've guessed that?
When asked what Apple CEO Tim Cook is doing right and wrong in his opinion, Wozniak responded with plenty of praise by saying Cook is carrying on the strong tradition that Steve Jobs was known for, which entailed "making good products that help people do things they want to do in their life" rather than advertising crummy products. However, he's not as sold on the Apple Watch strategy.
"I worry a little bit about - I mean I love my Apple Watch, but - it's taken us into a jewelry market where you're going to buy a watch between $500 or $1,100 based on how important you think you are as a person," Wozniak said. "The only difference is the band in all those watches. Twenty watches from $500 to $1,100. The band's the only difference? Well this isn't the company that Apple was originally, or the company that really changed the world a lot. So it might be moving, but you've got to follow, you know. You've got to follow the paths of where the markets are."
For everything else, Wozniak says he approves "very strongly of Tim Cook and the new Apple," including the stance Cook has taken with the FBI over iPhone encryption. In case you're not aware, Apple is fighting a court order that would force the company to assist the FBI with breaking into an iPhone 5c handset that belonged to one of the San Bernardino shooters. Apple's concern is that building a backdoor into iOS would set a dangerous precedent while simultaneously leaving hundreds of millions of iPhones vulnerable.
"You know what, I have things in my head, some very special people in my life that I don't talk about, that mean so much to me from the past. Those little things that I keep in my head are my little secrets," Wozniak said in response to a question about his thought on Apple's fight with the FBI. "It's a part of my important world, my whole essence of my being. I also believe in honesty. If you tell somebody, 'I am not snooping on you' or 'I am giving you some level of privacy; I will not look in your drawers' then you should keep your word and be honest."
Wozniak also brought up a story he told previously about having written Mac viruses in the past. The thought of that code falling into the wrong hands gave him a "chill inside" and he ultimately discarded the source code.
"These are dangerous, dangerous things, and if some code gets written in an Apple product that lets people in, bad people are going to find their way to it, very likely," Wozniak said.
There are plenty of other tidbits in the AMA, including Wozniak's reputation for pulling pranks and the fact that he views himself as a shy person. Who would've guessed that?
