Steve Wozniak ready for return to Apple

Steve Wozniak – Apple cofounder, former phone phreak, chief scientist at SSD startup Fusion-io, renowned prankster, Segway-polo pioneer, education philanthropist, and Dancing with the Stars contestant – has told Reuters that he's willing to add another chapter to his storied career: a return to Apple.

"I'd consider it, yeah," he told an interviewer who asked if he would be willing to "play a more active role" at Apple if approached by Jobs & Co.

The interview took place in Brighton, where Wozniak is attending the SQLbits conference to present awards to winners of the "Crappy Code Games" in conjunction with his position at Fusion-io, a sponsor of the conference.

The always-avuncular Wozniak also told the interviewer of his bona fides. "There's just an awful lot I know about Apple products and competing products that has some relevance, some meaning," he said.

But although he has a high degree of admiration of Apple products – "The products, one after another, quality and hits" – Wozniak does see some room for improvement. Questioning Apple's philosophy of closed systems, he said: "My thinking is that Apple could be more open and not lose sales."

He quickly added, however, that "I'm sure they're making the right decisions for the right reasons for Apple."

We're assuming that latter statement is a reflection of Wozniak's true feelings, and not merely an attempt to butter up his former – and possibly future? – boss: an even more renowned Cupertinian cofounder who also goes by "Steve". ®