Wozniak gripes over Apple's move to Intel

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is unhappy about Apple's switch to Intel

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, sometimes known as the Wizard of Woz, has revealed that he is unhappy about Apple's decision to switch to Intel processors.

Although Wozniak officially left Apple in 1985 he retains a keen interest in the company and is still on the payroll.

Wozniak took time out from a game of segway polo in New Zealand to tell The Globe and Mail that he is unhappy about the deal, although he understood it from an engineering point of view. 

"It's like consorting with the enemy. We've had this long history of saying that the enemy is the big black-hatted guys, and they kind of represent evil," he explained.

"All of a sudden we're the same in this hardware regard, so it's a little hard to swallow your words from the past."

Wozniak said that he would have liked Apple to continue using Motorola chips but acknowledged that Intel "did a very good logic design".

He also believes that the iPod is a "distraction for Apple" and should be spun off into a separate company. This would not be difficult, according to Wozniak, since the music player has a separate operating system, software and processor.

Wozniak downplayed the threat from Microsoft following its pledge to build an iPod rival.

"If Microsoft does it, it had better do it excellent, excellent, excellent because the iPod sure is," he said.

"Doing something weaker and somehow trying to use your size and market power is just not good enough if you don't turn out something superior."