What are the chances that the Fake Steve Jobs is in fact the real one. I’m not serious, I don’t think so anyway… but:
- The idea that someone suggested to Jobs that he should blog is very plausible. All CEOs these days either have blogs or are encouraged to have one.
- Jobs probably thought it would be unlike Apple and Jobs to do so, because:
a) so much of what makes Apple Apple is the aura and enigma of what Apple will do next.
b) it’s also better to have your customers rave and rant about you than you doing it but yourself.
- But like all forms of self-expression, Jobs was intrigued with the idea of blogging… and he toyed with the notion.
- Ultimately, he felt he just could not do it but wanted to, so he thought it would be better to do it anonymously…
- But doing so anonymously is somewhat counter-effective.
- So he turned the tables and said: “I’ll blog, but pretend it’s not me.”
Odds of this? More importantly, what would he (fake or real) have to say about this:
- Forbes/Blackberry hack job on iPhone/Apple.
- Should Apple / MSFT buy Record Labels?
- Apple CSR: Oh Man…
Tags: Apple, Blogs|
Posted By: Ashkan Karbasfrooshan | Jun 16th
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June 16th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
bs
June 16th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
nope
June 16th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
“All CEOs these days either have blogs or are encouraged to have one.” It may seem so in our land of the Web, but it’s far, far from the truth among the thousands of other regular businesses out there.
Not that it affects this discussion at all.
June 16th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
Wouldn’t it be insanely great, though?
June 16th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Excellent point Derek, context is everything I guess.
June 16th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
While we’re talking madness:
Patrick, can you imagine if Fake Steve was actually Bill Gates and then he sees this post and stops everything and goes: “I can’t even get the credit for that?”
June 16th, 2007 at 7:51 pm
I’ve been promulgating this theory for months actually. Makes it more fun to read doesn’t it? Can’t wait for the forthcoming book, although it will be difficult to get an autographed copy, I’m guessing.
June 16th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
Doesn’t matter who it is. It’s the truth. It’s the things we wish we could say, would like to say, if we were in his shoes. And I do think some of the posts, but not all, are in fact him. Or he knows who the real fake is, and feeds him/her ideas.
Fuck it. I’m going to have a beer.
June 16th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
Odds? Zero.
Can you imagine if it were true and it ever got out? You know there’s no way this person’s identity is going to be kept secret forever. Besides Steve’s got bigger things to see to.
June 16th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
With his SEC problems and as an officer of a public corporation, would he do something like that?
June 16th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
Stephen that’s a great question…
We’ve seen leaders of publicly traded firms think they can get away with a lot:
- the Rigas @ Adelphia.
- Bernie Ebbers @ Worldcom.
- Dennis Kozlowski @ Tyco.
- Everyone at Enron.
Those were crimes, but when those characters were doing the deeds, they did not seem to think twice.
Jobs is currently in a class of himself, riding high with both Apple and Disney, as its largest individual shareholder.
Were* he to even contemplate being the Fake Steve, I think he would not even think twice about it…
It would be the ultimate balance to his “real” persona… and one helluva practical joke.
June 16th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
…and who is fake steve ballmer?
June 17th, 2007 at 3:38 am
Steve doens’t blog. He has a podcast, though. remember? super secret apple rumors. check it up.
June 17th, 2007 at 8:39 am
No way it’s Jobso, there are too many posts per day. It takes time to write funny and he wouldn’t have any left for doing CEO stuff. It’s Cringely, doing an awesome job of doing what he does best, writing the funniest stuff in nerd-land.
June 17th, 2007 at 10:07 am
I think it is just Steves myrmidon. In the company, close enough to keep tight, close enough to leak some given stuff and far enough so the revelation of his identity can not harm. But certainly not himself …
June 17th, 2007 at 11:59 am
No idea who it is. But I love it. I hope he’s never unmasked.
June 17th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Apologies in taking ‘the hunt’ seriously, but there are far too many obscure British colloquialisms in there that the real Steve would be unlikely to know.
I can think of a couple of names no ones picked up on yet (how about a certain Mac pundit whose career started out writing satire for Oz and International Times in early 70s, and to this day is more known as a rock critic? Published writer? Occasionally writes satire for MacUser? Not Tony Tyler as he’s dead). Mind you, I don’t think I’m right on thatr. But I do think I’m right on the Brit connection .
June 17th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
more on the brit connection here:
http://valleywag.com/tech/exclusive/the-unmasking-of-fake-steve-jobs-259729.php
subsequently valleywag realized that they were wrong on that one, but there does seem to be a brit connection (either is one, has lived there, or married to one).
though, who says it’s a he?
June 18th, 2007 at 8:54 am
It’s me!!
June 18th, 2007 at 9:48 am
Hey come on, everyone knows its Larry, just taking the p*ss.