CEO Watch Farewell, Fake Steve
R.I.P Steve Jobs. The Fake Steve, that is.
Daniel Lyons, the former Forbes magazine journalist who wrote the immensely popular blog The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs, has decided to pen his last entry.
Known as Fake Steve Jobs, Lyons captivated the online tech world since 2006 with posts from the supposed secret diary of the famous Apple chief executive.
"I tried transitioning to other voices, like Jerry Yang's, but it just didn't work," Lyons told the New York Times, referring to the embattled Yahoo chief. "It seems clear that people reading the blog wanted to read Fake Steve or nothing."
Lyons, who will soon start writing for Newsweek as a technology columnist, parodied some well-established traits of Jobs and Apple. The blog was a platform for views on numerous industry matters, including Microsoft, industry merger talks, and Silicon Valley. For years, it was must-read material for tech observers and anyone interested in Apple.
Lyons, who wrote anonymously until the Times discovered his identity last summer, translated the success of his blog into a book titled, "Options: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs, a Parody," also a big hit.
Recent blog posts as a fake Jerry Yang didn't generate nearly as much buzz for Lyons as Fake Steve, and when Newsweek offered him a position, he decided to bury his fictional creations. Lyons also expressed concerns about mocking a person whose health has come under increased scrutiny in recent months. Several news sourced have speculated that Jobs has had a cancer relapse.
Lyons said he will leave his blog posts up and plans to sell a "best-of" books with some of his blog's most popular entries.
