07 Aug 2007, ST
Mystery blogger who parodied Apple's CEO on the Net is a technology writer at Forbes.
SAN FRANCISCO - For the last 14 months, high-tech insiders have been eating up the work of an anonymous blogger who assumed the persona of Steven P. Jobs, Apple's CEO.
The mysterious writer has used his blog, the Secret Diary Of Steve Jobs, to lampoon the CEO and his reputation as a difficult and egotistical leader, as well as skewer other high-tech companies, tech journalists, venture capitalists, open-source software fanatics and Silicon Valley's overall aura of excess.
The acerbic postings of Fake Steve, as he is known, have attracted a plugged-in readership - both the real Jobs and Bill Gates have acknowledged reading the blog ( fakesteve.blogspot.com ).
At the same time, Fake Steve has evaded the best efforts of Silicon Valley's gossips to discover his real identity.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Daniel Lyons, a senior editor at Forbes magazine who lives near Boston, has been quietly enjoying the attention.
'I'm stunned that it's taken this long,' said Lyons, 46, when a reporter interrupted his vacation in Maine on Sunday to ask him about Fake Steve. 'I have not been that good at keeping it a secret. I've been sort of waiting for this call for months.'
'Fake Steve' Daniel Lyons (above) responding to a reporter asking him about his blog
Lyons writes and edits technology articles for Forbes and is the author of two works of fiction, including a 1998 novel, Dog Days.
In October, Da Capo Press will publish his satirical novel written in the voice of the Fake Steve character, Options: The Secret Life Of Steve Jobs, A Parody.
Unlike the off-the-cuff ramblings on his blog, Options is a well-plotted satire that imagines Apple's CEO grappling with his real-life stock option backdating troubles and getting help, and bad advice, from friends like Larry Ellison, Bono and Al Gore.
Blogger unmasked
THE book, in part, led to Lyons' unmasking.
Last year, his agent showed the manuscript to several book publishers and told them the anonymous author was a published novelist and writer for a major business magazine.
The New York Times found Lyons by looking for writers who fit those two criteria, and then by comparing the writing of Fake Steve to a blog Lyons writes in his own name, called Floating Point (floatingpoint.wordpress.com).
Lyons said he invented the Fake Steve character last year when a group of CEOs- turned-bloggers drew some media attention. He noticed that they rarely spoke candidly. 'I thought, wouldn't it be funny if a CEO kept a blog that really told you what he thought? That was the gist of it.'
He said he recalled trying out the voices of several CEOs before settling on the colourful Apple co-founder. He twice tried to relinquish the blog, but started again after being deluged by fans e-mailing to ask why Fake Steve had disappeared.
Though many speculators have guessed Fake Steve was an Apple insider, Lyons said he has never interviewed Jobs or written a story about the company. 'I have zero sources inside Apple,' he said. 'I had to go out and get books and biographies to learn about a lot of the back story.'
He said writing as Fake Steve became addictive. He developed a unique lexicon and catalogue of insults for the character. Bill Gates is Beastmaster, and Eric E. Schmidt, Google's CEO, is Squirrel Boy.
When a reader asked Fake Steve about Apple's succession plan, he replied: 'My plan at this time is to live forever and to remain in charge here, though perhaps with fewer restrictions on my power. The truth is, I am not human - I am a man-god, son of Zeus, born to mortal woman but fathered by the ruler of the gods, lord of thunder.'
Lyons receives around 50 e-mail messages a day through the blog, many with ideas for posts, and says the site had 700,000 visitors last month.
Recently someone claiming to be Jobs' daughter, Lisa, wrote to tell him: 'You don't sound at all like my father, but your blog is hilarious.'
The guessing game around his identity saw speculation centering on a variety of plugged-in journalists, former Apple employees and even Jobs himself.
Over the last year, Forbes publisher Richard Karlgaard even got into the act, speculating about Fake Steve's identity on Forbes.com. At one point he wrote: 'The guessing game has begun. Who is writing it? Send me your guesses. I'll gladly buy the most expensive iPod for the first to identify Fake Steve Jobs.'
Lyons said he felt bad and later revealed himself to his bosses and colleagues. Since yesterday, Secret Diary has been published on Forbes.com.
The Fake Steve saga calls to mind the guessing game behind Primary Colors, the political roman a clef written in 1992 by Joe Klein, then a Newsweek writer.
Newsweek, however, fired Klein when he allowed other writers at the magazine to speculate on the book's author without tipping them off.
Lyons used the Fake Steve persona to further some of his own interests and positions. For example, articles in other business publications and their journalists were a frequent target of criticism from Fake Steve, while Forbes got off comparatively easy.
Asked whether he was worried that he would be called to account for some of Fake Steve's stinging, personal posts, Lyons chuckled and said: 'Yes.'
As for Jobs himself - the real one - he did not seem interested when told about Daniel Lyons. He said in a phone interview that he had no interest in reading Lyons' novel.
---------------------------------
'I have not been that good at keeping it a secret. I've been sort of waiting for this call for months'
'Fake Steve' Daniel Lyons responding to a reporter asking him about his blog
'The truth is, I am not human - I am a man-god, son of Zeus, born to mortal woman but fathered by the ruler of the gods, lord of thunder'
Daniel Lyons, impersonating Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs on his blog, The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs.
Mystery blogger who parodied Apple's CEO on the Net is a technology writer at Forbes.
SAN FRANCISCO - For the last 14 months, high-tech insiders have been eating up the work of an anonymous blogger who assumed the persona of Steven P. Jobs, Apple's CEO.
The mysterious writer has used his blog, the Secret Diary Of Steve Jobs, to lampoon the CEO and his reputation as a difficult and egotistical leader, as well as skewer other high-tech companies, tech journalists, venture capitalists, open-source software fanatics and Silicon Valley's overall aura of excess.
The acerbic postings of Fake Steve, as he is known, have attracted a plugged-in readership - both the real Jobs and Bill Gates have acknowledged reading the blog ( fakesteve.blogspot.com ).
At the same time, Fake Steve has evaded the best efforts of Silicon Valley's gossips to discover his real identity.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Daniel Lyons, a senior editor at Forbes magazine who lives near Boston, has been quietly enjoying the attention.
'I'm stunned that it's taken this long,' said Lyons, 46, when a reporter interrupted his vacation in Maine on Sunday to ask him about Fake Steve. 'I have not been that good at keeping it a secret. I've been sort of waiting for this call for months.'
'Fake Steve' Daniel Lyons (above) responding to a reporter asking him about his blog
Lyons writes and edits technology articles for Forbes and is the author of two works of fiction, including a 1998 novel, Dog Days.
In October, Da Capo Press will publish his satirical novel written in the voice of the Fake Steve character, Options: The Secret Life Of Steve Jobs, A Parody.
Unlike the off-the-cuff ramblings on his blog, Options is a well-plotted satire that imagines Apple's CEO grappling with his real-life stock option backdating troubles and getting help, and bad advice, from friends like Larry Ellison, Bono and Al Gore.
Blogger unmasked
THE book, in part, led to Lyons' unmasking.
Last year, his agent showed the manuscript to several book publishers and told them the anonymous author was a published novelist and writer for a major business magazine.
The New York Times found Lyons by looking for writers who fit those two criteria, and then by comparing the writing of Fake Steve to a blog Lyons writes in his own name, called Floating Point (floatingpoint.wordpress.com).
Lyons said he invented the Fake Steve character last year when a group of CEOs- turned-bloggers drew some media attention. He noticed that they rarely spoke candidly. 'I thought, wouldn't it be funny if a CEO kept a blog that really told you what he thought? That was the gist of it.'
He said he recalled trying out the voices of several CEOs before settling on the colourful Apple co-founder. He twice tried to relinquish the blog, but started again after being deluged by fans e-mailing to ask why Fake Steve had disappeared.
Though many speculators have guessed Fake Steve was an Apple insider, Lyons said he has never interviewed Jobs or written a story about the company. 'I have zero sources inside Apple,' he said. 'I had to go out and get books and biographies to learn about a lot of the back story.'
He said writing as Fake Steve became addictive. He developed a unique lexicon and catalogue of insults for the character. Bill Gates is Beastmaster, and Eric E. Schmidt, Google's CEO, is Squirrel Boy.
When a reader asked Fake Steve about Apple's succession plan, he replied: 'My plan at this time is to live forever and to remain in charge here, though perhaps with fewer restrictions on my power. The truth is, I am not human - I am a man-god, son of Zeus, born to mortal woman but fathered by the ruler of the gods, lord of thunder.'
Lyons receives around 50 e-mail messages a day through the blog, many with ideas for posts, and says the site had 700,000 visitors last month.
Recently someone claiming to be Jobs' daughter, Lisa, wrote to tell him: 'You don't sound at all like my father, but your blog is hilarious.'
The guessing game around his identity saw speculation centering on a variety of plugged-in journalists, former Apple employees and even Jobs himself.
Over the last year, Forbes publisher Richard Karlgaard even got into the act, speculating about Fake Steve's identity on Forbes.com. At one point he wrote: 'The guessing game has begun. Who is writing it? Send me your guesses. I'll gladly buy the most expensive iPod for the first to identify Fake Steve Jobs.'
Lyons said he felt bad and later revealed himself to his bosses and colleagues. Since yesterday, Secret Diary has been published on Forbes.com.
The Fake Steve saga calls to mind the guessing game behind Primary Colors, the political roman a clef written in 1992 by Joe Klein, then a Newsweek writer.
Newsweek, however, fired Klein when he allowed other writers at the magazine to speculate on the book's author without tipping them off.
Lyons used the Fake Steve persona to further some of his own interests and positions. For example, articles in other business publications and their journalists were a frequent target of criticism from Fake Steve, while Forbes got off comparatively easy.
Asked whether he was worried that he would be called to account for some of Fake Steve's stinging, personal posts, Lyons chuckled and said: 'Yes.'
As for Jobs himself - the real one - he did not seem interested when told about Daniel Lyons. He said in a phone interview that he had no interest in reading Lyons' novel.
---------------------------------
'I have not been that good at keeping it a secret. I've been sort of waiting for this call for months'
'Fake Steve' Daniel Lyons responding to a reporter asking him about his blog
'The truth is, I am not human - I am a man-god, son of Zeus, born to mortal woman but fathered by the ruler of the gods, lord of thunder'
Daniel Lyons, impersonating Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs on his blog, The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs.
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