This isn’t the first time that Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has given the company a hard time, and it probably won’t be his last, but today the co-founder said that Apple has fallen somewhat behind in the smartphone market with their iPhone, which is allowing competitors — namely Samsung — to catch up.
The comments come from an interview with German magazine Wirtschafts Woche, in which Wozniak discusses the importance of branding. Wozniak said that Apple is “somewhat behind with features in the smartphone business,” and “others have caught up.” Specifically, Wozniak mentions Samsung, who notes that the company is “currently making great products.”
However, Wozniak is known for standing in line for every single Apple product launch just like any other customer, and he says that if Apple “made lousy products,” he wouldn’t be standing in line, which essentially means that while Apple still makes great products, other companies are slowly catching up to the Cupertino-based company.
Of course, all of this was translated from German, and Wozniak has been misquoted in the past due to translation errors from other foreign publications, but these quotes specifically seem pretty cut and dry. Then again, Wozniak isn’t afraid to speak the truth on what he thinks about his former company, so his thoughts certainly aren’t surprising.
The Steve Jobs biopic, JOBS, made its debut this past weekend at the Sundance Film Festival (with a theatrical release on April 19), and the reviews have begun pouring in. While many critics praised Kutcher and Gad for a job well done in their roles as Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, respectively, they were quick to criticize a few inaccurate details in the film. For instance, we saw the first clip from the film a few days ago, and Steve Wozniak said himself that the scene was “totally wrong,” and it’s actually not what happened at all during the early days of Apple. In the long run, though, does it really matter? In the Hollywood industry where the truth doesn’t always entirely make it through anyway, should we really be upset that a narrative non-fiction film isn’t 100% accurate?
In the one-minute clip, Jobs and Wozniak are in a heated debate about the operating system that Wozniak created. While Jobs is certain that the OS will be a big hit with the general public, Wozniak isn’t so sure and needs convincing. Apparently, though, the Woz himself denied that he was ever skeptical about his creation, and he actually had full confidence in the operating system. All hell broke loose at this point for Apple fans.
Many argue that there’s no excuse for the production team to bend the truth of the history of Apple and its founders. Because both Jobs and Wozniak have a biography and an autobiography, respectively, fans argue that there’s no reason for the movie to include made up bits, since resources are readily available. For instance, in Steve Jobs’ biography, author Walter Isaacson interviewed Jobs over 40 times, as well as interviewing over 100 different family members, friends, and colleagues in order to get an accurate account of the man behind the company. Because of that, many fans argue that there’s no reason that the team behind JOBS had to steer away from the truth.
Sure, in the grand scheme of things, the movie gives a mostly-accurate account of the history of the company and the founders who created it, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise that some of the factual details are either missing or a little off, and it shouldn’t be big deal either. It’s just a movie, folks. Movies are meant to be entertaining and fun to watch. In other words, it’s not a documentary, where there’s a word-for-word account of what happened. Remember The Social Network? It’s another non-fiction film that shows off the conception of Facebook, and while it gave viewers a vague idea of how the social networking giant got started, all of the drinking, drugs, and parties actually never happened in real life; but it was still fun to watch. If the movie ended up being an exact representation of how Facebook got started, it would honestly be boring as hell — just Zuckerberg in his dorm room sitting at his desk coding for hours on end. Who seriously wants to watch that?
In other words, it’s completely okay to make up scenes in order to make the movie more dramatic and fast-paced, or whatever style the director is going for. I agree, though, that there is a line, but screen writers these days are smart enough not to cross it. And by crossing the line, I mean putting in explosions, car chases, and pretty ladies in a film about the history of Apple — now THAT would be ridiculous. But so what if Wozniak was skeptical about his operating system in the movie when that really wasn’t the case. It shouldn’t change how you enjoy the movie. Plus, this is only one clip — one minute from a 122-minute film. We shouldn’t even be criticizing something that we’ve only seen 0.8% of anyway.
However, this isn’t the only Steve Jobs biopic that will be coming out. If you recall, Sony Pictures is also working on a movie about the history of Apple and its fearless founders, only this time, Wozniak himself is involved, along with Aaron Sorkin, who is one of the greatest screenwriters of our time. While this Sony version may be a little more accurate than JOBS, though — thanks to the Woz’s help — I’ll be surprised if it’s any more accurate than JOBS. Sorkin was the one who penned The Social Network, and he’s always been one to credit the fact that non-fiction films and documentaries are two completely different beasts.
In any case, if you really want to know what the early years of Apple were like, I hope you would be smart enough to not rely on a couple of Hollywood movie to accurately inform you about the company’s history. You’re better off reading Jobs’ and Wozniak’s respective books, “Steve Jobs” and “iWoz”. Both give a clearer picture of what Apple was like in the early days, and they better reflect the relationship that the dynamic duo had back in the late 70s and 80s. Happy reading!
The anticipation is building to extreme levels for the upcoming biopic, JOBS, about co-founder and former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, and sidekick Steve Wozniak. The two characters are played by Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad, respectively, and for the first time, we get to see the two of them in action, thanks to the very first clip from the movie that was released today.
Entertainment Tonightreleased the clip today, and it’s a one-minute segment from the movie that shows Jobs and Wozniak in a heated debate. In the clip, Jobs is talking about the operating system that Wozniak created, and while Jobs is certain that the operating system will be a big hit among the general public, Wozniak isn’t so sure and needs convincing.
What’s perhaps the most profound segment of the one-minute clip is the last few moments when Wozniak tells Jobs that “nobody wants to buy a computer,” but Jobs retorts back, “How does somebody know what they want if they’ve never even seen it?” It’s some pretty powerful stuff, and we can’t wait to see some other clips from the movie that will hopefully be released sometime before the movie’s official launch.
UPDATE: Steve Wozniak himself responded to the one-minute clip from JOBS and said that the interaction in the clip was “totally wrong,” according to a response posted on Gizmodo. While the clip portrays Woz as not being confident in the new operating system, it was actually quite the contrary, and Woz even said he was “embarrassed” by the clip, “but if the movie is fun and entertaining, all the better.” He suggests that anyone wanting a clearer picture can read his autobiography, iWoz.
In related news, it looks like the production team behind the movie has made some slight changes to the title of the film. The creators have changed the title from “jOBS” to “JOBS,” changing the lowercase “j” to uppercase, making the whole title all caps. The movie’s official website, Twitter account, and Facebook page have all reflected the change. JOBS will be premiering this weekend at the Sundance Film Festival, and will see a theatrical release on April 19.
Last week we had a look at a couple of new photos from the jOBS movie set, which showed off actors Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad resembling Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak back in Apple’s early days. Today, the folks behind the Macworld/iWorld expo have announced that the two stars will be making an appearance and will be attending a talk during the conference.
During the talk, Kutcher and Gad will be discussing their experiences portraying the two Apple geniuses back when they started the company in 1976. Musician Will.i.am is also planning to attend the conference this year, and will be speaking alongside Intel futurist Brian David Johnson about future technology and gadgets. Fred Armisen, star of Portlandia and Saturday Night Live, will also be present at MacWorld/iWorld 2013.
jOBS will officially be premiering at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, just a few days before the start of Macworld/iWorld. The movie will then see a public debut sometime in April. Ashton Kutcher is a household name, so the film should definitely get a lot of attention, and while Josh Gad isn’t as popular, he has starred in the 2008 film The Rocker with Rainn Wilson. He also made single-episode appearances in New Girl and Modern Family, as well as currently starring in a new NBC comedy called 1600 Penn, where he’s also the co-creator and executive producer.
Macworld/iWorld features upcoming products, apps, and various tech talks, and unlike most other annual tech events, Macworld/iWorld is open to the public. Tickets can be purchased starting at $25 for access to the Expo hall, and the convention is live from January 31 through February 2 at Moscone Center West in San Francisco, CA.
We’ve already seen Ashton Kutcher’s extremely close resemblance of Steve Jobs in the upcoming biopic jOBS, which is set to debut on January 27 at the Sundance Film Festival. However, we haven’t seen any photos of actor Josh Gad all dressed up as Steve Wozniak, until now. A couple of new photos from the movie set reveal Gad’s similarities to classic Woz.
While Gad naturally doesn’t look anything like Steve Wozniak, let him grow out his hair, slap a beard on him, as well as some glasses, and you have a close resemblance of Steve Jobs’ sidekick. Both Kutcher and Gad portray the two Apple geniuses during the company’s budding days in the 1970s and 1980s.
Obviously, many people know who Ashton Kutcher is, but Josh Gad is a less well-known name in the entertainment industry. However, you’ve most likely saw him in at least one movie or TV show in the past. He starred in the 2008 film The Rocker with Rainn Wilson, and also made single-episode appearances in New Girl and Modern Family. His newest role besides jOBS is starring in a new NBC comedy called 1600 Penn, where he’s also the co-creator and executive producer.
Other well-known names that will be starring in the upcoming Steve Jobs biopic include Dermot Melroney as Mike Markkula, J.K. Simmons as Arthur Rock, and James Woods as Jack Dudman. Out of the rest of the bunch, J.K. Simmons is probably the best known. He starred in numerous films and is well known for his loud and outspoken acting style in Spider-Man as the newspaper editor. jOBS will make its nationwide debut in April of this year.
After completing Dancing with the Stars in 2009 and after appearing on The Big Bang Theory in 2010, the “Woz,” as he is popularly known, is going to star in a new iOS game. The game is called “Vengeance: Woz With A Coz” and it’s basically designed to promote American actor Danny Trejo’s latest flick entitled Vengeance. The game is developed by ITN FLIX in partnership with React! Games. According to the press release, Steve Wozniak will be appearing together with Danny Trejo, artist Baby Bash, and MMA superstar Rashad Evans.
Vengeance: Woz With A Coz begins with Wozniak enjoying an evening together with his wife. The couple are then suddenly interrupted by street thugs and J-Woz, Steve’s wife, is kidnapped. Danny Trejo shows up and together they must hurry and rescue J-Woz in Fusion City. The game features multiple levels of action-packed fun and a unique 8-bit art style, not to mention the awesome weapons including machetes and big guns. Woz With A Coz is launching on the Apple App Store this Thanksgiving.
Welcome to Wednesday evening everyone. Today Samsung rejected rumors that it’s been charging Apple a 20% premium on processors for iDevices, saying that since the prices are determined and agreed upon at the beginning of the year, it would be pretty difficult to change them. Speaking of Apple, the company confirmed today that it will soon open its first store in South America – the store will be located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to be exact.
We learned today that Call of Duty: Black Ops II sold 1 million copies at GameStop alone on launch day – news that shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone – and Rockstar delivered the second trailer for Grand Theft Auto V after weeks of new screenshots and news for the highly anticipated game. RIM CEO Thorsten Heins is confident that BlackBerry 10 will be a big hit when it arrives early next year, while the HTC Windows Phone 8X and Nokia Lumia 820 landed at T-Mobile today.
Steve Wozniak expressed his fear that Microsoft is doing more to innovate than Apple is, while we learned that text messaging is showing a decline for the first time ever. The HTC DLX – better known by the name of HTC DROID DNA here in the United States – will be launching in China on December 6, while AT&T launched its 4G LTE network in a number of new markets today. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has been added to the Queen’s royal collection, and sadly, the final issue of Nintendo Power has been finished, which means that the magazine’s offices have gone dark.
We heard the very sad news that Texas Instruments plans to lay off 1,700 workers in an attempt to save some cash, while Google added one-click app installs to Google Plus feeds today. One father went to the trouble of changing the text in The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker to show his daughter that it isn’t always boys who get to be the hero, some EA Origin members are having issues with hijacked accounts, and the Facebook Pages feed is ready for some time in the spotlight.
Finally tonight, we have a couple of different reviews coming your way, both from Chris Burns. First up we’ve got a review of Roger Dean’s Dragons Dream for iOS, followed by a review of the HTC Windows Phone 8X from T-Mobile. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, enjoy the rest of your night everyone!
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has never been shy to express his true feelings on different topics, and he’s certainly not afraid to be honest when asked anything about the company he helped build. During TEDx Brussels, Wozniak was asked questions on various technology topics, and was even asked what he thought of the Microsoft vs. Apple innovation war.
The Woz was asked several questions, some being about regrets he’s had, his thoughts on the future of technology, and what he thought of Scott Forstall’s departure. However, probably the most interesting tidbit was what his thoughts were about the innovation war, specifically between Microsoft and Apple. Woz says that it “worries” him that Microsoft might be becoming a more innovative company than Apple.
Specifically, Wozniak said that Microsoft has produced “more of the type of innovation where you see something and you say, ‘Whoa, they really changed things drastically. Whoa, they aren’t really even going in the same direction as everyone else.’” Wozniak is also worried that Microsoft might have spent the past three years coming up with bold new innovations while Apple “was just used to cranking out the newest iPhone and falling a little behind.”
While Apple is certainly improving on their products every year or so, Wozniak notes that “improving is not Apple-style innovation. It’s not like you’re creating something astounding that you’re just gasping because it’s so unexpected.” Wozniak points back to “some bad times” when the Macintosh first came out and the company was simply just releasing new and improved models every year. Wozniak believes Apple may be heading back into that rut.
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After completing Dancing with the Stars in 2009 and after appearing on The Big Bang Theory in 2010, the “Woz,” as he is popularly known, is going to star in a new iOS game. The game is called “Vengeance: Woz With A Coz” and it’s basically designed to promote American actor Danny Trejo’s latest flick entitled 
