Steve Wozniak: Apple, Google, and Facebook will be much bigger in 2075 than today

midian182

Posts: 9,722   +121
Staff member

When Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple in 1976, the two Steves imagined that the company would last for a very long time. Over 40 years later, it’s one of the largest companies in the world, but Wozniak believes that by the time 2075 rolls around, Apple, Google, and Facebook will be even bigger entities than they are today.

Speaking to USA Today last Friday, Wozniak compared Apple to IBM, which was founded back in 1911. "Apple will be around a long time, like IBM,” he said. "Look at Apple's cash. It can invest in anything. It would be ridiculous to not expect them to be around (in 2075). The same goes for Google and Facebook." The iPhone maker reported $246.1 billion in cash reserves for Q4 2016, a new record for the Cupertino company.

Wozniak also believes that cities of the future will be designed and built from scratch and located in deserts, where housing won’t be a problem. People will be shuttled between domed structures, but if you want to go outside you’ll need a special wearable suit.

Wozniak predicts a time when AI becomes ubiquitous in all cities. Shopping, communication, and entertainment will be carried out via smart walls and surfaces, while medical devices will enable self-diagnosis and doctor-free prescriptions. "The question will be ethical, on whether we can eliminate the need for physicians," he says.

Just like Elon Musk, the Woz thinks a colony will eventually come to exist on Mars, though he believes communicating with aliens is pretty unlikely. "It's worth trying," he says, "but I don't have high hopes." Let's hope humanity lasts long enough to find out if Wozniak's predictions come true.

“The Future of Humanity: Where Will We Be in 2075” is the subject of this weekend’s Silicon Valley Comic Con (SVCC), which Wozniak helped create last year. Around 75,000 to 100,000 people are expected to turn up to the three-day event in downtown San Jose, which features appearances from William Shatner, John Cusack, Buzz Aldrin, and the 30th-anniversary cast reunion of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Permalink to story.

 
No sense in being pessimistic but it's rather arrogant of him to think that those companies will still exist by then. It's possible, but not very likely. I do agree with his statement of AI becoming ubiquitous but I won't be around to see that.
 
I do believe Google and Apple will last quite a while. Google and Apple do an excellent job at following the trends at technology as well as setting the trends themselves. They both expand as companies very efficiently, cautious not to expand too much at a given time. Facebook, on the other hand, will continue to thrive for a while, but I believe will ultimately start to decline sometime in the near future.
 
Wow .... the Woz certainly has put on a lot of weight since the last time I saw him. Hmmmm, come to think of it that was at Applevention in Cincinnati back in ..... wow, 1985????? Geeeezzzzzeeeeeeee
 
If you don't already know, capitalism is the real life version of the monopoly board game. Until an unlimited energy source is found (or created), it will continue to accelerate to the last turn.
 
I do believe Google and Apple will last quite a while. Google and Apple do an excellent job at following the trends at technology as well as setting the trends themselves.

Google, yes. Apple, not so much and not for a long time now. Say what you want about Steve Jobs, but he was driving force both times in Apple, they didnt move a single inch outside of his imagination to this day. Google (or Alphabet) on the other hand are much more serious company.

Apple got rich with iTunes and iPhones and you cant sell those things until the end of time. Even mighty Nokia failed and they had much wider consumer groups.
 
I will be surprised if any of them are still in business by then, let alone bigger.

60 years is a whole epoch from a technological standpoint; in the 50's, high level programming languages and transistor-based computing were still in their infancy. Just 20 years ago, Google and Facebook didn't exist and Apple was irrelevant and close to bankruptcy. I wouldn't even feel comfortable guessing technology trends 10 years from now.
 
Google, yes. Apple, not so much and not for a long time now. Say what you want about Steve Jobs, but he was driving force both times in Apple, they didnt move a single inch outside of his imagination to this day. Google (or Alphabet) on the other hand are much more serious company.

Apple got rich with iTunes and iPhones and you cant sell those things until the end of time. Even mighty Nokia failed and they had much wider consumer groups.

Apple knows what its customers want. They've survived this far, and have evolved from traditional PC's to smartphones, and have a good chunk of the PC and smartphone markets. They'll evolve, and will release whatever the general public wants next. That's Apple's specialty.
 
I do believe Google and Apple will last quite a while. Google and Apple do an excellent job at following the trends at technology as well as setting the trends themselves.

Google, yes. Apple, not so much and not for a long time now. Say what you want about Steve Jobs, but he was driving force both times in Apple, they didnt move a single inch outside of his imagination to this day. Google (or Alphabet) on the other hand are much more serious company.

Apple got rich with iTunes and iPhones and you cant sell those things until the end of time. Even mighty Nokia failed and they had much wider consumer groups.
Devil's advocate, but the same jobless apple produced the iphone SE, addressing a market that android OEMs are to scared to even think about addressing. They continue to provide far more support for their devices then any android OEM, mobile safari continues to be superior to mobile chrome in both multitasking and in having an integrated adblocker, and the same company seems to be listening to complaints about the mac pro and even admitted they screwed up.

Apple is going to be around for a bit methinks.
 
Back