He enjoyed his work, but he believed he was not making a valuable contribution because of his role as an Apple spokesperson and because it had become a big company.
[1]: 286 At the same time, Wozniak had a state-of-the-art home theater in the Santa Cruz Mountains, made of myriad devices, each from different manufacturers and with a unique remote control.
Wozniak decided to leave Apple to pursue his new venture, but stated that he "never felt like I was turning my back on my own company".
Wozniak guessed that Jobs first heard the news from an article in The Wall Street Journal.
When Wozniak spoke to the reporter, he was very direct about the fact that he was not leaving because he was disgruntled with Apple, but that he was excited to build this remote control.
"[1]: 289 Wozniak left Apple but remained a paid employee indefinitely, though at the lowest pay tier.
[1]: 290 Wozniak mentioned the new company to an early investor in Apple, who asked to be allowed to invest.
[1]: 298–299 The product's name "Core" caused confusion in the marketplace with electronic and software from another well-known company.
After a legal settlement, the product was to be renamed and already manufactured items were to carry a disclaimer notice informing users it was not from Core International, Inc.
[3] The CORE remote control was marketed by Robert Retzlaff and David Peters of Celadon.
Its generic numeric keypad allows it to readily handle any task, but Wozniak said users preferred the more comfortable and specialized TV and VCR keys of standard remote controls.