Samsung and Google should share tech with Apple, says co-founder Steve Wozniak

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak wants his former firm to bury the hatchet with Samsung and Google, so their technology can be used in future iPhone generations.

Wozniak made the admission during an interview with the BBC, in which he declared Android's voice assistant software performs better than Apple's Siri offering. This is because it can draw on Google's search powers to fulfil user requests, he claimed.

I wish to God that Apple and Google were partners in the future.

"Sometimes I say Go to Joe's Diner' and [Siri] doesn't know where Joe's Diner is. And very often usually I find out that Android does," Wozniak told the BBC.

"That is actually the future of intelligence probably for computers getting smarter and getting artificial intelligence. I wish to God that Apple and Google were partners in the future."

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Cultivating a business environment whereby vendors can pool their technological resources would result in better products and would benefit all involved, Wozniak claims.

"There are good things I see on Samsung phones that I wish were in my iPhone. I wish Apple would use them and could use them, and I don't know if Samsung would stop us," said Wozniak.

"I wish everybody just did a lot of cross-licensing and [by] sharing the good technology, all our products would be better, we'd go further. I wish they were more compatible."

A technology tie-up between Apple and Samsung or Google seems unlikely, given the amount of time both firms have spent in court thrashing out their various patent disputes with the consumer electronics giant in recent years.

The burgeoning wearable tech market was flagged by Wozniak as an area that could potentially benefit from this type of vendor collaboration.

"I want a full smartphone-like capability on my wrist. The trouble is the more I think about it, I don't want the small size.

"For about three or four years, I've been talking about organic LED displays that could be theoretically printed on plastic, wrapped and folded," he explained.

"But think outside of the box. It could be on the inside of your arm and then when you flip your arm up it could actually flip open in your own hand."

Caroline Donnelly was the news and analysis editor of IT Pro. Previously, she worked as a reporter at several B2B publications, including UK channel magazine CRN, and as features writer for local weekly newspaper, The Slough and Windsor Observer. She studied Medical Biochemistry at the University of Leicester and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism at PMA Training in 2006.