Woz: If I were at Apple, we'd be partners with Google

Parallel universes are always fun to contemplate.

So please mount the No. 42 bus with me to a world in which Tim Cook is still COO of Apple and Steve Wozniak is calling the shots.

Here's what would be happening: Apple and Google would be deep and loving partners and would share all their knowledge in one vast openfest.

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The iPhone would have all the finest parts of Android, and Android phones would finally enjoy a little magical, revolutionary taste.

How do I know this would be? Well, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak gave an interview to the BBC, in which he said: "I wish to God that Apple and Google were partners in the future."

But when pressed as to how realistic it would be that Apple and Google would ever cuddle up and make nice, he was vigorous in his feelings.

"I don't know. If I were there, it would be pretty likely," he said. "I'm probably wrong, there's probably an awful lot I don't know about the business concerns, and one thing you've got to remember is a company has always got to make money."

Oh, to hell with business. What's business ever done for most of humanity, other than corrupt, enslave and bore?

Let's be idealistic. I am imagining a world in which Apple and Google have happy-hour drinks parties together and share their latest ideas. Samsung would be invited too, as long as that was OK with Judge Lucy Koh.

Woz explained: "I believe you should have a world where you've got to license something at a fair price. 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."

I have a feeling Samsung might. Unless, that is, Steve Wozniak CEO could intercede and stop the lawyerly madness.

Flip goes the smartwatch
In the same interview, Woz also expressed his desire for a smartwatch that wraps around the wrist -- one that would flip open and shut with a flick of your arm.

"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 said.

He expanded on this very flexible thought: "It could be on the inside of your arm and then when you flip your arm up it could actually flip open into your own hand."

Woz is always good for a quote or 10. But at least he thinks openly and with heart.

A world in which companies collaborate and cross-license would be one that many might enjoy. Few among them would be lawyers.