Whatever your thoughts and feelings on Apple, there's one thing Steve Wozniak and a lot of Australians probably agree on: our country pays too much for technology.
In an interview by ABC Radio, the Apple co-founder said Australians should not have to pay more than the United States for the same technology products.
"I just think it's horrible," he said, in regards to the large import taxes Australian consumers are saddled with. "The large duties in Australia I'm sure I would not favour... I would probably wind up being a libertarian thinking we shouldn't have boundaries between countries, you know?"
He went on to challenge the excuse of 'shipping costs' that manufacturers often give, stating: “You can ship almost anything around the world for almost nothing nowadays.”
Although Wozniak did not explicitly target Apple, you would think he would be aware of the controversy over technology prices in Australia - it was only a week ago that the Australian government announced a parliamentary inquiry into alleged price gouging, in which Apple was specifically mentioned.
Over the coming months, the inquiry will seek public submissions from both consumers and companies relating to the higher prices. It will be interesting to see how Apple responds to the inqury, especially after Wozniak's comments this week.
To get an example of how much more we pay, take a look at this story over at our new small business site BIT. The story compares two shopping baskets of software and hardware, including products like Microsoft Office, printers and Norton Antivirus 2012 (click here).
If you'd like to hear more from Steve Wozniak, we'll be attending his seminar 'The Apple Story' this coming Monday at an iiNet-sponsored talk at the Sydney Convention Centre. Check out our Twitter feed for live commentary from the event.
