Cassidy: Apple's Woz is headed for Australia -- eventually

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Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says he wants to live Down Under. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for VES)

The thing you have to know about Woz is that you just never know about Woz.

Yes, Apple (AAPL) co-founder Steve Wozniak is planning to become an Australian citizen and move to Australia. Or New Zealand. Eventually.

"I think it's sort of a neat idea," he said when I reached him Thursday.

Sure. Neat. Move to the other side of the world. Live in an up-until-now-foreign country. Why not?

But that's the thing about Woz and that's why he's come to personify the heart and soul of Silicon Valley. His mind is brilliantly analytical when it comes to technology. Think Apple 1 and Apple II. And yet, when it comes to living, he can still look at life with wonder and amusement.

"It's like a whole new second chance for me to learn about another country's history, to become rooters for their teams," Woz said. "It's sort of fun."

And hey, once you've done "Dancing with the Stars," you can pretty much do anything.

The thing is, Woz told me, he's always liked Australia. The people are nice. It seems a place far away, he said, from the hustle and bustle and the tensions and worries of the United States. (Even if it must have the hustle and bustle and the tensions and worries of Australia.)

Yes, Woz's (eventual) move is the perfect Internet story and it took the Internet

by storm. And while Woz is a big believer in the Internet (surprise), he had to chuckle at reports that he was moving to take advantage of Australia's superior broadband service (not that he doesn't think the superior broadband down under is swell).

Of course, that's not the reason. Everybody knows Woz and his wife, Janet, are moving to Australia because it's a day earlier there, which means Apple products are released there hours before the doors open to the Apple stores in California.

OK, that's not really the reason they're moving but it's a nice perk.

"Australians get things like the newest iPhone, they get them first in the world. I beat California by 17 hours this year," said Woz, who picked up his iPhone 5 while in the country on business and to file the first batch of paperwork to be granted an Australian resident visa.

Ah, paperwork. This is a bit of a process, and Woz said he's in it for the long haul. He said it could take several years to cross all the t's, dot all the i's and carry out various requirements. Once he obtains citizenship, he might choose to live in New Zealand, he says, because it's pleasant and accepts Australian citizens. But really, he said, it's a little early to be nailing down all the details.

A few things, meantime, won't change. He'll continue working for Fusion-io, where he is chief scientist. He wants to keep his U.S. citizenship. And he plans to be a regular in Silicon Valley no matter what country he calls home.

"I actually love my house in California," he said. "I hope that I can keep the house I have now, or at least a house in California, always."

And for Woz fans, who are legion, that may be the best news of all.

Contact Mike Cassidy at mcassidy@mercurynews.com or 408-920-5536. Follow him at Twitter.com/mikecassidy.

Source: http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_21648602/cassidy-apple-woz-steve-wozniak-live-australia-new-zealand?source=rss_viewed

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