Q & A: Wozniak Slams Apple For iPhone Price Drop Snafu

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, the driving force behind the original Apple I and Apple II computers, spoke about the iPhone price drop snafu, the innovative offerings coming from Google and other issues on Saturday in a question and answer session with reporters after a keynote address at the ConnectWise Partner Summit in Tampa, Fla. Below are excerpts from the Q and A.

Do you have the iPhone? What do you think of it?

I have the iPhone. I stayed up all night long to get it. I was the first in line in San Jose. I brought a bunch of my friends. I thought it was worth a party.

I even played some stunts to be first in line. It was like waiting up all night in college for Rolling Stones tickets. Thank God I did in 1973. Thank God I did for the show I was. Well this was more fun. I actually had figured out I had been running on two hours sleep a night and I wasn't going to be able to stay up all night. So I finally figured out I could get there at 4 a.m. but some people had stayed up all night. I didn't want to be in line and have 20, 50 people cut in front of me. I might not get an iPhone. So I came up with this great idea of making numbers for the line the way they do with rock concerts. And I made T-shirts and I got approval from the Apple store guy the day before. So I came at 4 am and I accidentally snuck into an open door in the Mall. But nobody sleeping out there even saw me. I got in with my friends and we got our Segways inside and the guard was told who I was and he let us be inside. So we were inside the Mall and everyone else was outside the Mall.

At 5 am we went four people on Segways looking like security. We opened up the door and out there sleeping on the ground were all the people and I took control. I said I am here, we are going to pass out t-shirts and numbers and we passed around numbers each one signed by me. But the first number I passed out was nine. I took one through eight. I did tell the girls who were first in line they could go in the store ahead of me. And then we went back in the Mall. They were still outside. We were in the Mall on Segways. We raced around an empty Mall. We took videos.

So what did you think of the iPhone?

I fell in love with the iPhone. I did not like it at first. But I wasn't prejudging it. I don't like to prejudge Apple products. The iPod I didn't prejudge it took me about a half day (to love it). The iPhone took me about two weeks, maybe longer. Pretty much it took me a month. I fell in love with it everytime I use it for browsing on the fly. I never thought I'd use it for email on the fly because I get so much email. But sometimes it really saves me. I have used every Smart Phone there is just about.

I love the Blackberry Pearl because it is such a small size. The iPhone is bigger but it is more fun even when it is slower at dialing phone calls it is more fun. But I haven't switched my voice phone to it yet. I don't have to take that leap. I carry two phones on me sometimes three or four.

Why didn't you switch your voice phone to the iPhone?

The voice quality. Being able to hear it. How it works with my Bluetooth that I like. The iPhone doesn't work with my Bluetooth.

I am very hands free and with the iPhone you can't be hands free. Whenever I am on Bluetooth in my car or with my Bluetooth sun glasses I don't always have a hand free to push a button in the car or on my Bluetooth. I play Segway Polo on a Segway and I take phone calls. I don't have a hand free. One time I took an hour long call while playing a game of Segway (Polo). It was with the Commerce Department, the National Medal of Technology Subcommittee I was on. And I was chairman of the whole Committee too. I took the call and they just kept saying, Can you get that radio and move it away from you?

I love to be hands free and my voice dial (capability) is not built into the iPhone yet. I expect that soon. And turbodial has been around for 20 years. You know push one button call your assistant, call your best friend, your wife. There is a few people you dial one button for and I love that approach. So I haven't totally switched to the iPhone. But even when the iPhone takes me longer at least I enjoy it. It is a fun experience even to call someone on it.

NEXT: Woz Calls Out Apple For The iPhone Price Drop Snafu