Steve Wozniak is an amazing guy, never afraid to mince words or hold back on praising or criticizing any product, be it Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android, despite being a founder of Apple Inc. In a live Q&A session “Ask Steve Wozniak Anything” with the users over at Slashdot today, Wozniak suggested that Apple should make iTunes for Android as well.
In response to the question “How do you feel about the way Apple conducts themselves today?” and whether he was happy the company he had once helped found had turned to lawsuits to stifle competition, Wozniak said that while he loved Apple products, he had mixed feelings about how Apple has created a world where outside products cannot be used with Apple’s and vice versa, drawing parallels to how AT&T once disallowed anything not leased from AT&T to be connected to their telephones and answering machines. He also mentioned that Apple once ported iTunes to Windows to address “100% of the market” (yes, Linux apparently didn’t exist on the desktop back then), and they should also port it to Android so that he is able to use iTunes on his Android devices as well.
While this is a good notion, Apple might shut down the company before doing so thanks to the war against Android that Steve Jobs started, as they wouldn’t want users of their biggest competitor OS to be able to get access to all their iTunes media content on non-Apple products. This does work against those who might prefer an Android smartphone but use iTunes on their MacBook or iPod, but Apple probably isn’t very concerned about that crowd. While Microsoft consistently releases apps for their services on Android (like Skydrive or Xbox Live), Apple has not taken the pains to do so.
What do you think? Should Apple port iTunes to Android, and even cross-license their patent features with Android manufacturers instead of suing them? Do let us know in the comments!
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