While Steve Wozniak has not been directly involved in Apple's tech developments for a while, he is still a key voice in understanding and judging the tech giant's future. Because of this, it only makes sense that in the week that a new Steve Jobs biography hits the market, we'd also get Wozniak's opinion on the company's latest developments.
The Apple co-founder was interviewed by the Australian Financial Review on Tuesday about a variety of topics. When asked about the Apple Watch, Wozniak said that he's keenly watching the release to see if the device was valuable enough to earn what he calls "permanent wrist space." He added that he's tried other smartwatches, but he only wore them for as long as the novelty lasted. In order for the Apple Watch to succeed, Wozniak said that Apple needs to make sure that an app came out that made the watch "hugely advantageous" to wear. The one app Wozniak did consider for the gadget was Apple Pay, which he uses constantly, and he's always excited to find out when yet another store accepts Apple Pay as a form of payment.
Wozniak said he plans to buy an Apple Sport Watch, the cheapest model available, when the watch arrives on the market on April 24.
"If you buy the really high-priced ones, the jewellery ones, then you're not buying a smartwatch that has a bunch of apps ... Like a Rolex watch, you're buying if for prestige and a label and a symbol of who you are," he said.
Wozniak, who still considers himself as an engineer rather than a businessman, doesn't see an immediate need for such prestige. However, if the Apple Watch turns out to be an extremely valuable device, Wozniak is willing to consider buying an Apple Watch Edition.
"I'm just not going to buy it for jewellery's sake until I know it's something I'm going to want around me and on me and use every single day continually as a permanent part of my life," he said. "Then maybe I'd consider looking into getting the nicer jewellery version."
Wozniak also talked about how he believes that computers will take over from humans in the near future, as well as the limits of computers.
You can read the full interview here.
