Woz: 'I'm trying to figure out a way to make the Air part of my life'

(Credit: Al Luckow/Woz.org)

Apple co-founder and sometimes Steve Jobs antagonist Steve Wozniak was characteristically outspoken when talking to reporters this morning in Sydney at a tech conference. According to a transcript posted by APC Magazine, on the subject of the new MacBook Air, Woz minced no words, telling a group of reporters: "At first, I thought, it's so feature-missing...I burn DVDs a lot to pass files to other people. I watch movies on airplanes. I need one that will go an entire flight and switch batteries, when there's sometimes no power on the plane."

But he liked how the keyboard worked with the thinner design, saying, "For some reason, the way its keyboard is, I can type faster, it's a more comfortable, positive experience," and he extolled the virtues of the backlit LED display: "I love the whiter-whites of the LED backlighting, which I don't have in my laptop yet." The stripped-down features seemed to be the biggest deal-breaker, with Wozniak saying: "So I'm trying to figure out a way to make the Air part of my life, because I'm a one-laptop-only person. I've got to now change my approach and have a desktop tower computer at home, keeping all my big data, which I don't have enough disk space on the Air for, and I can finally take my Air around with me and use it."

His final word on the subject pretty much mirrors what we've heard from talking to both current Air users and potential customers, with Wozniak saying, "I don't think it's going to be a hit; I know some people love it and it works great, they have a computer at work, and they use their Air to give presentations, but I don't see a mass swing over to them."