KEY POINTS:
Something funny happens to Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak when he gets off a plane in this part of the world - he very publicly starts picking holes in the company he helped build and is still a shareholder of.
Maybe it is the jetlag, or far away from Silicon Valley and the other Steve, maybe it is a technology guru telling us what he honestly thinks.
Yesterday Woz was in Sydney giving a run-through of what he doesn't like about the iPhone (lack of 3G support) and the MacBook Air (lack of removable battery, optical drive and connectors).
"I don't think it's going to be a hit," was the Woz verdict on the MacBook Air, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
The candid comments remind me of the spat Woz got into with former New Zealand Herald IT editor Peter Nowak back in 2006 over an interview Woz gave Peter when he was down here competing against the Pole Blacks in Segway Polo.
Here's the article Peter wrote, which had Woz criticising Apple and led him to spit the dummy when he got back to the US and claim that he'd been misquoted.
Peter then posted a transcript and recording of the conversation, which showed Woz to have been quoted accurately and fairly.
In that interview and in the comments he gave yesterday in Australia, Woz makes very valid points about the flaws in Apple's products and the company's strategy and for voicing his honest views he deserves credit.
Still, it'll do nothing to change the opinion of many Apple fans that Woz is a barely-tolerated thorn in the side of the company. As for Woz, he reckons he's still great mates with Steve Jobs despite the undermining jibes he lobs the way of Apple from time to time.
"We're really good friends - never argued over these things - but once in a while he [Jobs] will just have a comment, 'thanks a lot'," Woz told the Sydney Morning Herald.
I met Woz briefly last year at a Segway Polo tournament in Silicon Valley. He was exactly as I imagined - an affable geek.
But he was tired that day having just come off a flight from somewhere in Asia and while he did his best to welcome the Pole Black team which had hosted him the year before in New Zealand, he disappeared home after a few games to sleep.
He seemed out of sorts, the big man with the big personality is, with the revival of Apple, in danger of becoming a caricature of himself. A couple of days later he was back on form, pacing down the red carpet at the Emmy Awards with D-list celebrity Kathy Griffin on his arm.
