There are two types of AMA that play out on Reddit — the limp, languid affairs where a prominent figure shills a product under the guise of a Q&A session, and the interesting alternative where the subject actually answers some questions truthfully. Yesterday saw Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak engage in the latter variety.
As well as answering queries about the invention he would like to have come up with and the best prank he’s ever pulled off, Wozniak dove into some serious issues. Of course, the dispute between Apple and the FBI was broached, but Woz also found the time to share his views on the divisive Apple Watch.
Wozniak expressed a ‘worry’ about the device, stating “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 $1100 based on how important you think you are as a person.” He would go on to criticize the fact that the range of bands on offer is the only thing that differentiates the product line.
“Twenty watches from $500 to $1100,” wrote Wozniak. “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.”
An explanation of Woz’s harsh stance on the smartwatch can be found in a separate answer he gave, where he sets out his ethos that progress toward new technologies should be about “making the human more important than the technology.” It seems that in the case of the Apple Watch, he sees the product being put before the person using it.
Interestingly, Wozniak’s comments were not prompted by a question specifically pertaining to the Apple Watch. He was in fact being asked about his thoughts on Tim Cook, whom he praised as “continuing a strong tradition that Steve Jobs was known for.”
