Apple co-founder and tech icon Steve Wozniak has confirmed over the weekend that his application to become an Australian is now underway, reports said.

In Brisbane on Saturday, Mr Wozniak told a business forum held at Queensland University of Technology that he'll be an Aussie national very soon, likely becoming the second key tech figure in 2012 to abandon their American citizenship.

Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin had earlier ditched his U.S. passport this year to pave the way for his legal residence in Singapore, where he has been living for a number of years now.

But unlike Mr Saverin, who unconfirmed reports said had renounced his U.S. citizenship to avoid paying tax duties, Mr Wozniak's move appears to be motivated by a nobler reason - deep love for his new home.

He intends to stay Down Under till the end, the United Press International (UPI) reported on Saturday.

"I'm going to live and die as an Australian . . . that sort of isn't well known yet," Mr Wozniak was quoted by UPI as saying.

The man who assembled the first Apple computers also revealed that he enjoys what keeps him busy at the moment - travelling, speaking and inspiring young minds - a far cry from the days when he conspired with the late Steve Jobs to build Apple from scratch.

What started as a garage experiment led to a very successful firm that today is the biggest firm in terms of market capitalisation. Mr Wozniak, however, is no longer part of the tech giant.

But no regrets on his part, Mr Wozniak insisted, disclosing too that in 2011, months before Mr Jobs died, the latter had broached the idea of his return to Apple.

The reunion did not happen and the Apple CEO passed away, an event that Mr Wozniak described as "one of the worst shocks of his life."

Mr Wozniak has only good but honest words for the Apple chief he considered a "good friend."

"(Steve Jobs) was the smartest guy in the room almost always . . . he was generally right on ideas but he was rude to people," Fairfax reported Mr Wozniak as saying on Saturday.

He also lauded what Apple and other tech firms have accomplished so far and by his own reckoning, two generations will pass and the world will witness incredible strides in artificial intelligence.

About 40 years from now, "the computer's going to be our best friend . . . and it's going to know me so well, I won't want you humans (anymore)," Mr Wozniak told his Brisbane audience.