Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak told attendees at an information technology conference in Singapore Thursday that innovation is no longer the driving force for some top computer companies and that Apple and Microsoft "donit really care about quality."
Making his comments at the Singaporeis information technology and communication trade fair, CommunicaAsia 2005, Mr. Wozniak said "the computer industry per se has been a little bit harder to be innovative for the last 20 years" and that the focus has shifted to volume sales.
"Now we have passed the stage where innovation is the driving factor for the companies," he commented to ChannelNewsAsia.com.
He said Apple today is "Appleis almost a monopoly" as is Microsoft "in its way," and "itis like those companies donit really care about quality. They are going to sell just as much as ever regardless of quality. Apple strives to be a leader in new technologies and that is one of the things they are really good at. But a lot of perfection in the software havenit followed a lot of rules that are obvious to people. There was a short period of time around the Macintosh, that was the case but itis pretty much gone."
When asked to give advice to entrepreneurs in the technology field, Mr. Wosniak said the best strategy is to keep a company small, lean and mean.
"The further along youive got on a product all by yourself, the better," he said. "One person is going to do the best job because one person is going to make sure that all the elements of the product fit together in the right best way."