'I'm in trouble' says Woz's wife

"Someday this little computer," she heard her husband say, "will be my best friend."

Wozniak and wife

Steve Wozniak had just pulled his iPhone out of his pocket when he told a group of Apple (AAPL) investors in Los Angeles Friday that the device -- or one of its successors -- would someday be his closest companion.

Sitting in the audience two rows back, his wife, Janet Hill, whispered under her breath: "I'm in trouble."

Wozniak spoke -- rapidly and with infectious enthusiasm -- for about an hour on the last day of the first Apple Investor Summit. Among the revelations (at least to me):

• That although Steve Jobs' adoptive family was a great and loving one, "somehow Steve didn't like his family at all, and couldn't wait to get away."
• The last time he spoke to Jobs was by telephone. "I'm gonna die," Jobs told him. Wozniak tried to cheer him up, not realizing that his old partner meant it literally.

Wozniak, who clearly prefers his iPhone, suggested that every Apple executive should be forced to own and use a Google (GOOG) Android phone "so they know what they can do."

Posted in: Android, Apple, Google, iPhone, Janet Hill, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak

• Video: Apple's founding document fetches $1.35 million at Sotheby's

  Dated April 1, 1976, it gave 45% each to Jobs and Wozniak and 10% to Ron Wayne

  Steve Jobs was having trouble getting his friend Steve Wozniak to agree to commercialize his new circuit board, so Jobs invited an Atari draftsman he had befriended help change Wozniak's mind, write up some incorporation papers, and provide a tie-breaking vote should disagreements between the two Steves arise.

  Wozniak was persuaded, and with a flourish MORE

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 13, 2011 2:34 PM ET
  Posted in: Apple, Ronald Wayne, Sotheby's, Steve Job, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak

• Today in Tech: Amazon ups Kindle Fire orders?

  Fortune's curated selection of newsworthy tech stories from the last 24 hours. Sign up to get the round-up delivered to you every day.

  * According to The Atlantic, Amazon (AMZN) bought a voice-to-text tech startup called Yap. Meanwhile, Amazon Web Services opened a new data center in Umatilla, Oregon. Customers who host their services at the Oregon location will pay 10% less than if they use the company's data centers in California MORE

  JP Mangalindan, Writer - Nov 10, 2011 8:01 AM ET
  Posted in: Amazon, BlackBerry, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Kindle Fire, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak

• Apple Investor Summit

  Walter Isaacson and Steve Wozniak to deliver the keynotes

  I've been invited to speak at an Apple Investor Summit being held in Los Angeles next March.

  It's shaping up to be an interesting event. Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson and Apple (AAPL) co-founder Steve Wozniak will deliver the keynotes, and the featured speakers include several of our regular commenters, among them Horace Dediu, Andy Zaky, Travis Lewis and Robert Paul Leitao.

  The organizers MORE

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Nov 2, 2011 6:49 PM ET
  Posted in: Andy Zaky, Apple, Apple Investor Summit, Horace Dediu, Robert Paul Leitau, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Walter Isaacson

• CNBC's Steve Jobs: 'The king of Silicon Valley'

  The documentary that premiers Thursday night covers some well-plowed ground

  There could be a few surprises in the hour-long biography of Steve Jobs that will kick off this year's "CNBC Titans" series. But judging from the previews and Web-extra videos posted on the show's site, it's a long shot.

  For people who have followed the career of Apple's (AAPL) co-founder and CEO, the photography and film clips will have a familiar feel MORE

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jun 23, 2011 7:11 AM ET
  Posted in: Alan Deutschman, Apple, Bloomberg, CNBC, Documentary, iPhone, John Sculley, Leander Kahney, Michael Moritz, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak

• Apple cofounder: 'Android will win smartphone race'

  In an interview with a Dutch paper, Steve Wozniak says Android will dominate the industry.

  Anyone looking at smartphone trends sees the Android market exploding like nothing has in the past.  Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak is no exception.  He told Dutch language  De Telegraaf that he thought Android would win the smartphone race in the same way that Microsoft (MSFT) Windows eventually came to dominate PCs.  Roughly Google (GOOG) translated:

  According to MORE

  Seth Weintraub - Nov 18, 2010 12:05 PM ET
  Posted in: Android, Apple, Google, iPhone, Steve Wozniak

• Who will replace Eric Schmidt on Apple's board?

  Now that Google (GOOG) CEO Eric Schmidt has resigned from Apple's (AAPL) board of directors -- something that actually happened last Friday, according to Apple's form 8-K filing with the SEC -- who will replace him?

  Names of potential nominees have already started to pour in. Tim Cook -- who ran Apple during both of Steve Jobs' medical leaves -- would be our first choice, and he's the leading vote getter MORE

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Aug 4, 2009 12:19 PM ET
  Posted in: Apple, Board of Directors, Eric Schmidt, Steve Wozniak, Tim Cook

• Information wants to be free ... and expensive

  Futurist Stewart Brand was the first to say "Information wants to be free." He also said it "wants to  be expensive."

  By Richard Siklos, editor at large

  Rarely a day goes by in media and tech business circles without somebody crying "Information wants to be free!" as a justification for distributing or copying someone else's content -- and as an explanation for why so many traditional information purveyors are in peril.

  So I MORE

  Jul 20, 2009 10:00 AM ET
  Posted in: Apple, free content, Google, Music, newspapers, Steve Wozniak, Stewart Brand

• Video: Apple's Woz does the cha-cha

  "The good news is it held my attention throughout," said judge Len Goodman, who pronounced the performance, overall, "a disaster."

  "It was like a Teletubby going mad at a Gay Pride parade," was Bruno Tonioli's snarky assessment.

  The third judge was kinder. "Steve, I think you are what this competition is all about," said Carrie Ann Inaba. "You make us want to cheer for you."

  That Steve, of course, was Steve Wozniak, co-founder of MORE

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Mar 10, 2009 8:00 AM ET
  Posted in: Apple, Dancing with the Stars, Steve Wozniak