Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak Says iPod Is Dying; Apple Stock Downgrade Was "Correct"

(PaidContent.org)  This story was written by Tricia Duryee.

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Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) Co-Founder Steve Wozniak, who has been retired from the company since 1987, still has a love for gadgets, technology and computers, but in an interview with the Telegraph, he is startlingly frank about where the industry is headed and his thoughts and opinions when it comes to the Web 2.0 movement; the iPod's longevity and the iPhone when it's compared to the Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Android operating system.

Here's excerpts from the interview:

-- On Apple's downgrade and the economic slowdown: Last week, Apple's shares fell about 20 percent after two analysts downgraded the stock, a move that Wozniak says was "correct." Furthermore, he believes: "It is time for the whole computer industry to maybe have a bit of a slowdown. For twenty years we have been in this replacement and upgrade market," he says. "It is very easy to postpone that when there are financial irregularities."

-- On the iPod dying out: "The iPod has sort of lived a long life at number one," he says. "Things like, that if you look back to transistor radios and Walkmans, they kind of die out after a while...It's kind of like everyone has got one or two or three. You get to a point when they are on display everywhere, they get real cheap and they are not selling as much."

-- On the iPhone being a closed system: When comparing it to Google's Android operating system, which relies on open-source, to the iPhone, which restricts what can run on it, he said: "Consumers aren't getting all they want when companies are very proprietary and lock their products down. I would like to write some more powerful apps than what you're allowed."

-- On Apple's FanBoy-ism: He said he'd like for the next generation of users to influence them, which is not how it currently works if users continue to be loyal even when they fail. "With a religion you're not allowed to challenge anything. I want our customers to challenge us."