Wozniak says iPad Jobs' vision of PCs for normal

Steve Wozniak at a speech late Monday at Storage Networking World saw the iPad as the culmination of Steve Jobs' goals for design. The Apple co-founder told those gathered in Santa Clara that Jobs likely wanted an ultra-simple computer "from the day we started Apple" but that technical reality had meant it was impractical until now. Technology had to catch up to create the ease of use he wanted, IDG heard Wozniak say.

"We had to go through a lot of steps where you connected to things, and (eventually) computers grew up to where they could do... normal consumer appliance things," he explained.

He went on to stress that the design was not for many of the computer-savvy guests at the show but "normal people" who didn't necessarily understand or care about the same features they did.

Wozniak also showed his devotion to Apple from a sincere perspective as he looked at analyst predictions of Android tablets overtaking the iPad with skepticism. "I hope that never happens," he said.

The computing pioneer has made it a point to use Android but has regularly been loyal to Apple, for which he still works part-time. He stressed that his exit from the upper ranks of Apple was amicable and that he was always an engineer where Jobs was a consummate businessman.

By Electronista Staff