Apple Co-Founder Wozniak Touts Android Over IOS. Wait No He Didn’t!

In an interesting article Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak stated that Android will end up being the dominant smartphone platform, and not Apple’s IOS.  This probably comes as a bit of a surprise to the numerous fans of Apple who swear by the iPhone.  One of the main people that started the company gave a straight forward and realistic opinion of the smart phone arms race, and he did not pick the team he helped start to win.  This is what many have been saying all along, but people get entrenched into something they spent money on and blindly support it because they have invested in a platform, and do not want to feel like their money did not buy the best.

Here is a direct passage from the article in terms of Woz’s comments on Android, “Woz then moved on to the topic of Android saying that Android smartphones, not the iPhone, would become dominant, noting that the Google OS is likely to win the race similarly to the way that Windows ultimately dominated the PC world. Woz stressed that the iPhone, “Has very few weak points. There aren’t any real complaints and problems. In terms of quality, the iPhone is leading.” However, he then conceded that, “Android phones have more features,” and offer more choice for more people. Eventually, he thinks that Android quality, consistency, and user satisfaction will match iOS.”

Many people will read that and scoff, but it’s a powerful statement coming from the guy that helped to create Apple.  Now if you notice he did not say that he felt Android was better than the iPhone right now, but that the potential for Android in the future is brighter.  All of that was fine and dandy when Wozniak brought that up this morning, but after several angry calls from Steve Jobs Wozniak claims he was misquoted in the whole mess.

Here is a direct passage of the correction, “Woz says he gave the De Telegraaf reporter a lengthy demonstration of voice commands on iOS and Android, pointed out that Android offered the ability to say “Navigate to Joe’s Diner,” and suggested that Apple would catch up through its purchases of Siri and Poly9. According to Steve, that’s about it — he says he’d “never” say that Android was better than iOS, and that “Almost every app I have is better on the iPhone.” Woz did say he lightly prognosticated that Android would become more popular “based on what I’ve read,” but that he expects Android “to be a lot like Windows… I’m not trying to put Android down, but I’m not suggesting it’s better than iOS by any stretch of the imagination. But it can get greater market share and still be crappy.” – http://www.engadget.com

Do you really think someone who is as intelligent and business savvy as Steve Wozniak would put something out there without knowing what he was saying?  I am sure Steve Jobs called him and threatened him if he did not retract his statement as he started to see the Apple utopia start to shake from the co-founders comments.

The fact of the matter is that Wozniak’s initial comments were correct in a lot of areas; Android does have more features and right now has the most market share for mobile platforms.  The Iphone is for people who want everything controlled for them, and who want limited control over what their phone can do.  Now people have been jail breaking iPhones to make them much more open (to get free apps), but in the long run why should you have to jail break something to get the control you want over it?  Droid gives you that control out of the box, and I think that is all Wozniak was saying, but the masterminds at Apple could not let it go.  Both platforms are good, and it comes down to a matter of preference, people should not get so polarized because everyone does not want to buy what they have invested in.