Steve Wozniak Believes Apple Has Fallen 'Somewhat Behind' in Smartphones

Macman45 said:
I agree as well...A friend of mine was showing off her new phone...Lumia I think, compared to my IP5 it just looks more modern and up to date...It's not going to make me jump ship, but if Woz thinks Apple are behind, then maybe things will get done....Not much point in making the comment if they don't.
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Lmao that phone sucks

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And jailbreaking an iPhone pretty much fixes all this.
 
While I believe iStuff has a strong lead in certain metrics, I also believe it is falling behind in others.

The smartphone and tablet are now commodities, and the price of iStuff hardware is starting to be more then those willing to pay.
 
Mabus51 said:
Source really :confused: it's a known fact. When Apple updates iOS it goes out to all iPhones instantly on all carriers. It's up to the user to press the Update button.

When Google updates Android it goes out to the manufactures. Most of the time the manufacture holds the update back and uses it drive hardware sales. So you end up waiting for months to get it if ever. Or you buy a new Droid with the update preinstalled.
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Samsung does not do that and has added tons of features to the s3, s2, and note II since launch including multiwindow and loads of other usefull features. All of these phone have been upgraded to jellybean.
 
clibinarius said:
When one of the founders of the company says they're falling, don't get defensive. Woz says innovate. If he knew how to innovate it at this time, he probably would. But he needed Jobs to actually be productive with it, mind you.

I agree with Woz. I have ceased recommending iPhones for anyone at this time. They're not bad, but there's certainly better out there. If Apple fans could only admit that, we'd get a real swell apple phone, don't you think? You know, the "Never enough" approach for users rather than shareholders...
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Well, let's not get TOO crazy here. I said I agreed with some things he said, and you are, in a way, kind of putting words in his mouth. He said he still stands in line for Apple products because they still make great products. I think that's pretty much a recommendation from Woz.

My point is that a lot of things that Android lovers (usually the more geeky users, and I mean that in a respectful way) think people would love on phones would really never get used that much. I work in the tech industry so I know a lot of computer geeks--they tend to like the customization options and the hackability of Android phones. But the standard user doesn't care about side loading apps or running CM7--they just want a cheap/free phone that can do Facebook and texting.

And another thing that kind of makes me crazy is that people make statements like this as if Google is innovating in leaps and bounds with Android. They really aren't. Android is in refinement stages now just like iOS. And that's great--Jelly Bean is probably the closest they've gotten to the smoothness of iOS, so good for them. But it's not like they're blowing our minds with new features every 10 minutes. Android is becoming a mature platform. The problem is that only a small percentage of users ever use their most recent OS, and Samsung is the only company making any money on Android, and that's including Google.

None of this has much to do with Woz's comment I guess, but I wish people would get real about what people truly want to do with their phones. I don't care if it's an iPhone or an Android phone, all I ever see *most* users doing with them is Facebook, texting, or playing games. All smartphones do these things now and they pretty much all do them well. The nerds fight over all the stuff that most users never use. A lot of people have latched on to the bigger screens because that is actually a feature they can see and use right away with no effort, and to me, that totally makes sense. THAT is the common phone user. "What can this thing do for me the second I pick it up and start using it?" That's the mindset most people have. The vocal minority of smartphone users (people that argue on forums because this is the kind of stuff they actually care about) have the mindset of, "How many hidden features and tricks does thing do that I can unlock or turn on to make it the Death Star of all phones?"

My criticism of Woz is not that he speaks his mind. My criticism is that his opinions often don't represent reality, and I think he tries to latch on to Apple sometimes as if he still works for them. I would not want him running Apple just because he created the Apple II. I certainly wouldn't mind him in some kind of creative role their, but definitely would not trust his decision making on a lot of things. I never attack people that use phones other than the iPhone (though Android users seem to verbally assault me all the time), and I honestly don't care what phone other people use. It's an argument that just as useless as talking politics and expecting the other person to change their mind if you present your case strongly enough. Completely pointless. So I really don't care what Woz thinks about the iPhone vs. Android. And that's my point I guess:

Woz hasn't worked for Apple in decades. As Apple moved on with bigger and better things, Woz insisted on continuing to work on the Apple II. Woz has never worked for any of the major players in the modern tech game. Not that that's a requirement to know what you're talking about, but his opinion on this stuff is just not something I take seriously any longer. He's irrelevant.
 
It just works

HI Guys,

I know what you are all saying has some validity. but a few points.

1/ I have never liked companies that follow the crowd, Apple always, if somewhat, slowly pleases its customers.

2/ Woz was a genius and we have a lot to thank him for, BUT, he seems to have become the Anti-Mac, i cant remember the last good thing he said about any recent product.

3/ Although the iPhone 5 design failed to impress, i grow to love it more and more every day and as Steve famously said, "IT JUST WORKS"

4/ DONT fall for gimmicks guys, they are always short lived.

5/ and I've just sold my 19 month old pristine iphone 4 for £220 cash in hand .... can you do that with a HTC, samsung or Lumia.... I DONT THINK SO

finally

Keep the faith
 
Totally. While the IP5 is a great phone (design and to be honest its ease of use is great). There are a bunch of folks who want some of the more modern features.

Its about time to see another innovative leap from Apple in the phone market. They have the solid foundation and have rested upon this for a little too long (indeed allowing the competition to overtake in terms of features).

All we can do is hope that someone has similar insights as did Steve and can push the R&D guys forward in directions that can restore some of the Wow factor.

its quite the testament that despite the on paper better specs and feature sets of competitors products, the iPhone still remains very popular and indeed still has a nice easy to use OS. I give support to people of all ages and abilities and find that the majority of more mature folks find it a lot easier to use iOS than android (or recently the windows phone).

I would hate to see that slip away because of stagnation of design and innovation.
 
You people are delusional to think Apple hasn't fallen behind as they were NEVER on par with other phones here in Japan to begin with. Woz was being political in order not to step on any toes, but the fact of the matter is, if you look at the features offered on almost any phone here in Japan, they have ALWAYS been far superior to the iPhone.

So then why do I and so many other Japanese use the iPhone? Ease of use and software integration. One thing the Japanese suck at is GUI design. Their hardware may be awesome, but software is how people interact with any device and that's where Japanese suck. When rumors of the very first iPhone began to surface, everyone thought it would be a failure here in Japan. Since I worked at a large tech company at the time and saw first hand how Japanese design their software interface, I knew the iPhone would take Japan by storm. People just want something simple and elegant and that is the iPhone's greatest strength. It is certainly not chocked full of features. Meaning no disrespect to Apple, but "thinner and lighter" although ver sexy, is NOT a useful feature. I can use my Japanese phone to ride the train, buy stuff at a convenient store or a snack machine, it connects hands-free to the audio system in my car and displays all of my contacts on my car navigation display, it has a 12 megapixel camera and so on. Those are REAL features.

So has the iPhone fallen slightly behind? In my opinion, it never caught up.
 
Nexus 4 not quite there yet.

TennisandMusic said:
Man all you guys insisting Woz is wrong and that Apple is still the best at "user experience" or not behind in mobile, seriously have your head in the sand.

My Nexus 4 begs to differ with everything you said. Android 4.2 makes iOS look ridiculously bad.
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I just got a Nexus 4. Don't agree with you. It is clunky. The screen's not as sensitive, so when I type, sometimes it doesn't catch the letters at the beginning. There is no encryption that you take for granted on the iPhone. It takes 45 minutes to set up encryption during which the phone is unavailable. I've had it power off (haven't discovered why) a number of times. There's no way to disable an app from your contacts, GPS, etc if the app wants it. You can either delete the app, or let the app screw with your info. There is no way to manage it at the enterprise level, not that iPhone Configuration Utility is the best way to manage iPhones, but at least you can set an enterprise policy and enforce/update it.

So... *no*
 
DarkKnightNine said:
You people are delusional to think Apple hasn't fallen behind as they were NEVER on par with other phones here in Japan to begin with. Woz was being political in order not to step on any toes, but the fact of the matter is, if you look at the features offered on almost any phone here in Japan, they have ALWAYS been far superior to the iPhone.

So then why do I and so many other Japanese use the iPhone? Ease of use and software integration. One thing the Japanese suck at is GUI design. Their hardware may be awesome, but software is how people interact with any device and that's where Japanese suck. When rumors of the very first iPhone began to surface, everyone thought it would be a failure here in Japan. Since I worked at a large tech company at the time and saw first hand how Japanese design their software interface, I knew the iPhone would take Japan by storm. People just want something simple and elegant and that is the iPhone's greatest strength. It is certainly not chocked full of features. Meaning no disrespect to Apple, but "thinner and lighter" although ver sexy, is NOT a useful feature. I can use my Japanese phone to ride the train, buy stuff at a convenient store or a snack machine, it connects hands-free to the audio system in my car and displays all of my contacts on my car navigation display, it has a 12 megapixel camera and so on. Those are REAL features.

So has the iPhone fallen slightly behind? In my opinion, it never caught up.
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Other than the 12 MP camera, the iPhone 5 also can do all that stuff.
 
spiderman0616 said:
So in general, I would like to know what Woz would like added into iOS.
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It's no secret that Woz love products that give it's users the freedom to do things with it 'they themselves' would like to do with it. This is where he criticizing Apple for, for not making products that are more open for use with third party software and hardware. In this Woz is absolutely right. I like my iPhone but I don't like the restrictions it has. Friends of mine have hacked their devices and by doing so getting tons of extra features.

I also, like Woz, don't like that Apple is trying to control all the data on your iPhone. Control? Huh? Yes, control, it's Apple who decides if your App will be approved or not. What's nudity and what's considered art? Something consumers, i.m.h.o. should decide for themselves. What's 'bad language and in what context?' is i.m.h.o. something consumers should decide for themselves as well.

And I'm not even mentioning the silly, because it's silly, patent lawsuits Apple is continuing to bring up whenever they disagree with something they see as some kind of crime because someone is making the same kind of software or hardware.

I've nothing against 'protecting' your intellectual ideas about the devises and/or software you made but there is a line called 'reason' with all of this, and this line has been crossed multiple times by now; and no, not only by Apple.

spiderman0616 said:
He always makes these sweeping comments about Apple but never gives any solutions. He's no better than your typical forum poster/troller.
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That is a fallacy. Good criticism doesn't have to come with solutions.

Personally, good criticism is good and what's good or not is of course in the eye of the beholder but in this context I only can agree with Woz his statements. They are simply spot on, for some years now I may add.
 
Obvious comments from an Apple Sidekick

What Woz says is true from an out-of-the-box feature standpoint. One need only point to the Samsung marketshare to see this. The popularity of their total-user-experience and tremendous developer support gives a boost to iPhone success, making it infinitely customizable. iPhone 6 better be more than just taller and thinner.
 
stevielatphoto said:
2/ Woz was a genius and we have a lot to thank him for, BUT, he seems to have become the Anti-Mac, i cant remember the last good thing he said about any recent product.
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Hardly. He's always gone on record as saying he tends to prefer Apple products to anything else, but he more or less likes everything out there that provides a nice experience. He's had good and bad things to say about WP8, Android, and yup, even iOS.

He isn't trying to drum up drama or becoming a fanboy or whatever, rather he's just calling it like he sees it. Apparently he still thinks iOS is great, but he feels it's falling behind in features. He never said it sucked, or Apple is dead without Steve Jobs or whatever. He's just stating an opinion.

That's what I like about Steve Wozniak. He's a technology fan first and foremost. The company and platform doesn't matter nearly as much to him.
 
He is absolutely right. iOS is so 2008. Nothing has changed. We still have the ugly gradients, skeuomorphic designs. It's just embarrassing for such a beautiful looking device.
 
Mhm, offline car navigation for 110+ countries. Apple has that? All phones have strong points and weak points.
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Maps data is not related to iOS.

The smartphone and tablet are now commodities, and the price of iStuff hardware is starting to be more then those willing to pay.
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Then why did Apple seize 69% of the phone market? And why has Apples sales been as big as the PC market Q4?

Samsung does not do that and has added tons of features to the s3, s2, and note II since launch including multiwindow and loads of other usefull features. All of these phone have been upgraded to jellybean.
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But JellyBean only works on new devices. My Android from early 2012 can't run it.

What Woz says is true from an out-of-the-box feature standpoint. One need only point to the Samsung marketshare to see this. The popularity of their total-user-experience and tremendous developer support gives a boost to iPhone success, making it infinitely customizable. iPhone 6 better be more than just taller and thinner.
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If developers are so supported, how come most of them develop for iPhone? Let's not forget that with open platforms comes insecure applications.

Apparently he still thinks iOS is great, but he feels it's falling behind in features.
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What is a feature anyhow? Most people on here seems to think that a wider screen does the job. Some even point at Apple should blatantly copy JellyBean.

He is absolutely right. iOS is so 2008. Nothing has changed. We still have the ugly gradients, skeuomorphic designs. It's just embarrassing for such a beautiful looking device.
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You seem to be one of those who believe in change for the sake of change. It works, doesn't it?

He gets it. Samsung is a huge threat. Apple has to have a bigger screen. Let's go Tim.
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You must be joking.

Sent from my iPhone 5:apple:
 
Macman45 said:
I agree as well...A friend of mine was showing off her new phone...Lumia I think, compared to my IP5 it just looks more modern and up to date...It's not going to make me jump ship, but if Woz thinks Apple are behind, then maybe things will get done....Not much point in making the comment if they don't.
Click to expand...

I agree... I actually saw a guy with Lumia on the commute train this morning, the OS looks fresh and the phone design very modern... I was impressed.
I didn't feel like pulling out my iP5 because side by side I think the iP5 wouldn't look as sharp (IMO).

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jimbo1mcm said:
He gets it. Samsung is a huge threat. Apple has to have a bigger screen. Let's go Tim.
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I don't think a bigger screen is so much of an issue as iOS. Apple needs to think outside the box here... Android and Windows OS is leaping over Apple (IMO).
 
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