Wozniak Pursues Mystery Venture

One half of the team that helped launch the personal computer revolution--the man who cofounded Apple--is bringing a new company to the high-tech world.

Steve Wozniak, who partnered with Steve Jobs in inventing Apple's line of Apple I and Apple II computers, is starting a new company called Wheels of Zeus, or WOZ (a play on his nickname), he said in a statement Wednesday. Wozniak will chair WOZ's board.

The details about what exactly Wheels of Zeus will do are still hazy, but the statement cites technologies such as global positioning systems, cheap wireless access, and processing power as being central to the company's plans for products and services.

Big Backers

Wheels of Zeus is backed by $6 million in venture capital funding from Mobius Venture Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Palo Alto Investors. Greg Galanos, managing director of Mobius, will serve on WOZ's board of directors. Another board member will be Tim Draper, the founder and managing director of the firm that bears his name.

Wozniak has declined to give interviews about the company, and Galanos said that WOZ and its investors "are not talking about product strategy right now."

He did say that WOZ expects to offer products and services for both consumers and businesses. Its ventures will involve "next-generation devices" and attempt to "marry GPS with wireless technology," according to Galanos. The phrase "next-generation devices" often refers to advanced cellular phones or handheld computers.

Stay Tuned

Further announcements about the company's plans should come within six months, Galanos said. He noted that WOZ is already in operation in Los Gatos, California, and will continue to add staff.

"What we're investing in here is Steve's vision for next-generation devices," Galanos said. Wozniak has always had a passion for "technology that has an impact on people's lives," he added. WOZ's products will do that, he said, they just won't do with desktop computers.

After leaving the day-to-day operations of Apple, Wozniak returned to school for degrees in both computer science and education, and taught for a while. He returned to Apple in the position of Apple Fellow, and has pursued several technology ventures as well. One involved consolidating remote controls for electronic devices into a single unit.