The Woz gets his Galaxy Nexus (and a t-shirt) a bit early from Google

Steve Wozniak, considered by many to be the real brains behind Apple's early success in the desktop computer business and an all-around cool fellow, is seen leaving some mysterious Google campus building today.  Word is he received a Galaxy Nexus and an Ice Cream Sandwich T-shirt from the boys and girls in Mountain View, and it looks like he's ready to defend them from fans and press with a short right hook to the chin if need be.   Woz is Woz, so we'll know soon how much he likes his new toy.  I'm betting he gives it a big nerdly thumbs-up.  One more pic of the proud papa after the break.

Source: +Kirill Grouchnikov

Jerry Hildenbrand
Senior Editor — Google Ecosystem

Jerry is an amateur woodworker and struggling shade tree mechanic. There's nothing he can't take apart, but many things he can't reassemble. You'll find him writing and speaking his loud opinion on Android Central and occasionally on Twitter.

57 Comments
  • Woz is awesome. That is all that needs to be said really.
  • He is, and first dibs to all the cool toys is his right.
  • hahaha i LOVE this! THE *apple man* gets a nexus! Steve Jobs must be rolling in his grave (rip Steve, got save your soul)! LoL ps. have you seen Woz do the worm!? WOZ iZ AWESOME!!!
  • Hmmm, looks to me like the Woz is taking a lesson from the demise of Jobs and trimming his weight a little.... Seen here, getting his 4GS, he looks way heavier...
  • That coat would make Twiggy look bigger than reality. lol
  • too awesome!!
  • No iPhone for Woz ;)
  • Woz already has an iPhone 4S, I am sure he can enjoy both phones.
  • I saw an interview with him where he said that he has four cell phones on him pretty much at all times.
  • Woz may have helped start Apple, but he's a true technophile through and through. He doesn't see brands, just awesome tech :) What a great guy.
  • This. This man has pretty much been my God for a very long time.
  • Two Galaxy Nexus devices, three folks with actual Ice Cream Sandwiches, and some random dude just holding an empty bowl. Lolz
  • Wozniak >>>>>>
  • Damn lucky bastard:'( I soo want a job over there:D Who knows if they are hiring? Hehe
  • Google is always hiring ... but they are extremely selective.
  • Wow btw there is not 1 african american or latino person in that pic ...hmmm lol
  • what's your point? Or is there even a point?
  • Google hires smart people.
  • So you can't be a minority and smart, too? Nice comment. Read it before you post it.
  • Since when are Indians and Asians not a minority? He means that black people are usually not involved in such professions, which is not racist. It's actually quite accurate. I'm in research and development for the largest pharmaceutical company and we have only one black guy in our entire branch of 100+. In professional sports, the opposite is true.
  • He most likely meant: Google hires smart people, without taking into account whether they have "enough" of one color. It's 2011, how about we give people the benefit of the doubt...?
  • What about the really tall guy in the background of the second pic? Doesn't look white to me.
  • And not one Danish person in the whole bunch! Conspiracy? I think not!
  • lol
  • Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Minorities "Of all racial/ethnic groups, Blacks had the highest percentage of bachelor's degrees awarded in business (25 percent) and the lowest percentage awarded in engineering and engineering technologies (3 percent). Asians/Pacific Islanders received 12 percent of their bachelor's degrees in the biological and biomedical sciences and 9 percent in engineering technologies; these were higher percentages than those of all other racial /ethnic groups shown. They also received the lowest percentage of degrees in education (2 percent) of any racial/ethnic group shown. American Indians/Alaska Natives and Whites had higher percentages of their bachelor's degrees awarded in education (8 percent for both) than all other racial/ethnic groups shown." http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2010/2010015/indicator6_26.asp
  • haha...if hte picture was taken around 6pm when the janitorial was there...there would probably be some. FYI im latino.
  • Being Latino doesn't give you the right to demean anyone. If you're trying to be humorous, shame on you. If not, get some pride about yourself. Performing janitorial services, or any other "menial" job is not a joke. It's how people earn their living and support their families. I know lots of people who have college degrees and got plush jobs because their parents worked "menial" jobs to pay for those educations. I'll bet you know people like that too. So next time, think before you try to be funny.
  • Quote for me the line where he's demeaning someone. All work has dignity, it's your assumption that he's trying to be demeaning. Statistically, he's probably right.
  • I agree with you completely. He's being a moron perpetuating stereotypes.
  • C'mon guys. We're all little green robots, aren't we?
  • Really, you make it a point to notice such things? Yeesh. Well, they are not all European Americans, there are some Asian Americans in there too, if that makes you happy.
  • I study comp sci at a major university in the south, and I can count the number of african americans and latinos in the entire department on 1 hand. I don't know why that is, but if that's normal for colleges then I can understand why Google wouldn't have any working for them. It's kind of a minimum requirement to get a job at a software development company.
  • 1. i thought Woz likes to wait in line like the regular folk?
    2. where's Rubin in the pic?
    3. it's a good thing "you know who" isn't around to see that second pic.
  • im afraid i'll have to *strongly* disagree with you on that #3 Lol.
  • gotta love the woz, i'd buy him a nexus myself given the chance.
  • Woz actually has something like 5 iPhones. Apparently each one is grandfathered into some AT&T plan with perks, like one of them has unlimited international calling and data.
  • he's worth like $100M+. like he really needs grandfathering! i like him though and it's a nice courtesy to him.
  • It's funny that he had to camp outside to get a iPhone 4S, but Google invites him on to campus and gives him a pre-release.
  • Looks like Woz is an Apple Traitor and Steve Jobs had died in vain:)
  • A year ago the Woz was quoted as saying his favorite phone at that time was the Nexus One. Who can argue that? Whatever his favorite phone is, he is one cool guy. Great to see him with the gang from Google.
  • f@$#ing s&*(t i just wanna know when REGULAR people can get it. this is driving me crazy. its getting ridiculous that they havent even announced a release date
  • Never. Didn't you hear? It's being distributed only to hardware/software geniuses with nine-figure net worths.
  • At this point probably never. :(
  • So what network is he going to be using it on?
  • The true Genius at Apple. Met him at the US Festival in 82 at the computer pavilion. I was eleven and he steered me clear of all the business stuff and straight to the games and programming demos. Cool guy. Glad he likes his toys after all these years. By the way he usually carries around like five phones, and the newest is usually his favorite for a bit. He still loves his iPhone so don't get too excited.
  • To be a true innovator, you need to have an open mind. Woz is a true innovator.
  • LOL of course Woz gets an galaxy nexus after steve passes away. btw even though woz was the real brain behind apple, if it weren't for jobs apple wouldn't have been created since woz's idea was to give everything away from free
  • This is a little disturbing. Doesn't Waz still kind of work for apple? I know he only makes $1 a year, but isn't anyone concerned that he is going to just run up to cupertino, hand it to the engineers, so they can start writing up notes to give to apple's legal army, so they can come up with 10 more law suites about ice cream sandwich? He is too close to the enemy, I don't trust him.
  • they dont need him to get a galaxy nexus. It is easy to get a phone. They can give one of the employees money to buy a phone. Why would they send him to get one hahaha. Logic my friend
  • What the other guy said. Your statement is silly and a bit illogical. Use some common sense. Why does it matter if Wozniak picks up a Nexus, or what he does with it? If he doesn't run it to Cupertino, any other Apple employee, or hell, anyone ANYWHERE could easily do the same, and tear it apart and see what it's made of. To think that there's anything to hide is naive. Last I checked, there was also nothing -illegal- about doing this, especially since tech websites strip down phones all the time to look at the internals. On top of this, Android is completely open source, so they can look at both hardware and software if they really want to. I even hope they do, and maybe they could learn a thing or two about innovating instead of just suing everybody. Wozniak is a technophile, he loves playing with new toys. Props to him for taking the time out to check it out.
  • @dpang, and why couldn't that have worked? It's basically what Google does. Google gives everything away for free, save for a few premium service packages and advertising services which is how they fund everything else. Seriously, even android (the OS) is free. I just saw a netbook in a catalog with a 7 inch touch screen running gingerbread for a hundred $ from a no name startup company, which would never be possible if they had to spend as much as the physical cost licensing windows or Ios.
  • @Da808Dragon
    Google is an advertising company. They started that way and they still are. I suspect Android being open source to have some kind of business perk while they take over the world. I think they hit 78% on Thursday. (jk for those w/o a sense of humor) idk much about business but android on google's books still baffles me. I'll just enjoy it till I figure it out. I :-)
  • Double post
  • Unfortunately he doesn't have it anymore, when told it has Ice cream sandwich in it he ended up eating the phone in one bite.
  • Can anyone link me to a picture of the ICS TSHIRT ???
  • I met Woz in 2000 when he came to speak at my cs department at MSU. He was more real and down to earth than even the smallest business owners I have worked for since. No chip on that man's shoulder.
  • Woz has been a hero of mine since the Apple // days (I was a HUGE fan). Even though I find myself much more closely aligned to what Android represents, I can't help but be inspired by Woz's technical prowess. I'm also impressed that he is open-minded enough to give competing technologies a fair review. Woz rocks !