Is Steve Jobs Dying? And Is Fake Steve Resurrecting?
September 2, 2008
I have been exchanging emails with Dan Lyons, the man behind Fake Steve, and he revealed some scary news. I emailed him to tell him that Steve Jobs isn’t dying like some believe, and that according to the New York Times, he’s sick, but not even close to the magnitude of a disease like cancer, hoping I could convince him to revive the blog. However, Dan claims to have sources who might be telling him otherwise.
“Well it’s a weird situation. I can’t really get into this but people close to him have been saying for quite a while (before the appearance onstage) that he’s really sick. And someone who saw him last week says he still looks like (expletive)”.
While this is obviously terrible news if it is true (which it probably isn’t… the NYT guy spoke to Steve directly), Dan Lyons revealed some great news at the end of his conversation with me, regarding the future of Fake Steve Jobs.
“Anyway, I’m starting at Newsweek tomorrow and Fake Steve was supposed to be part of my job. So we’re going to discuss whether to revive the blog”.
So there you have it. Lets all pray he’s wrong about Steve Jobs, but right about Fake Steve Jobs.
UPDATE: Fake Steve is wrong. Steve denounced it on stage at the event. Of course he could be lying, but I doubt he would do something like that if he was actually okay.
September 2, 2008 at 3:59 am
[...] and it looks like the Fake Steve Jobs feature may be coming along for the ride. Our friends over at MacSoda had a chance to talk to Dan about his motives for discontinuing the feature, and the likelihood of [...]
September 2, 2008 at 2:25 pm
RSJ is an intensely private person. If he is terminally ill, I would think he wants to live the time left as he sees it and he would want to keep it private. I can understand his sentiments but the only problem is that Apple is a publicly traded company. There is a greater responsibility here. I just hope he has a succession plan in place and the transition would be smooth. That being said, whatever is ailing him, I wish him well and hope he recovers to his former self.
September 2, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Lets just all hope he’s fine.
September 2, 2008 at 5:41 pm
People are being too sensitive about this. Here’s news for you: we all die.
Jobs is so private, it’s likely we won’t know he’s dead until his ashes have been scattered over Tibet. Go ahead and resurrect Fake Steve Jobs.
September 2, 2008 at 5:52 pm
“That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.”
September 2, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Does anyone make a plush Steve Jobs doll? I need one to hug right now.
September 2, 2008 at 7:50 pm
“Get busy livin’ or get busy dyin’…that’s goddamn right.”
September 3, 2008 at 1:41 am
OK. I’ll try to be gentle here, but in response to the above post that there is a ‘greater responsibility’ because Apple is a publicly traded company I have to say - who cares.
Believe it or not, Publicly Traded Companies are not part of the 10 Commandants, nor the Constitution, nor the Bill of Rights…What I am getting at is they are nothing more or less then a legal way to bet on capital accumulation. There is nothing sacred about them. Just ask the dozens of executives who manipulate and lie about them daily for the very basest of reasons, to accumulate MORE wealth. If he wants to tell people, fine. If not, that’s fine to. And I say this having owned Apple stock for almost 11 years now.
September 3, 2008 at 3:36 am
Um, yeah, nice rumors mixed with innuendo mixed with ignorance. I too suffer from two “life-threatening chronic conditions”, both of which are fatal if untreated. First is thyroid disease, treated with the MOST WIDELY PRESCRIBED MEDICATION in the USA. Second is asthma. So me and several million other people are suffering from “uncurable deadly chronic conditions”. Whatever!!! Go pump and dump Apple somewhere else!
September 3, 2008 at 4:07 am
Please, leave Fake Steve dead, and get on with your real life Dan Lyons.
September 3, 2008 at 4:24 am
We certainly don’t know that FSJ is hearing truth from trustworthy sources who actually know anything of substance. Just b/c FSJ hears from someone “close” that he looks like “$#%^” doesn’t mean he’s dying. The Whipple Procedure is one such potential justification. FSJ could be an unwitting pawn of hedge funds who position people to serve as “sources” to spread nuggets of misinformation and manipulate without conscience. And some even think this blog played some roll in taking down AAPL stock today. So please be very, very careful what you print/read/conclude here or elsewhere. FSJ has been completely wrong before — even when he was sure at the time that he was completely right:
http://www.forbes.com/2007/09/19/software-linux-lawsuits-tech-oped-cx_dl_0919lyons.html
September 3, 2008 at 10:35 am
Comebacks rarely succeed. More often then not they fail badly, ending in public ridicule, and embarrassing all concerned. Let’s face it, the principal reason fake Steve generated serious interest was the mystery factor. Fake Steve had a good run, Lyons made a good buck from it. Let it go and move on.
Does plain old Dan Lyons has the same drawing power? I seriously doubt. He’s just another industry hack. Ego check required.
September 3, 2008 at 11:19 am
I also suffer from terminal illness - it’s called ‘being alive’ and unfortunately it has only one prognosis: I will die.
Luckily for everybody else though, the world will go on and things will still get done.
September 3, 2008 at 4:09 pm
So is this just a way for FSJ to draw attention to himself and advertise the fact that he’s restarting his FSJ blog for Newsweek?
September 3, 2008 at 5:37 pm
[...] under: Rumors, Steve JobsFirst the good news. Dan Lyons, the man behind Fake Steve Jobs, has suggested that his fictional alter-ego may be ready for a return. Earlier in the summer, Dan left his job at [...]
September 3, 2008 at 7:51 pm
[...] the good news. Dan Lyons, the man behind Fake Steve Jobs, has suggested that his fictional alter-ego may be ready for a return. Earlier in the summer, Dan left his job at [...]
September 3, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Why not leave FSJ dead where he belongs?
September 4, 2008 at 12:04 am
[...] Is Steve Jobs Dying? And Is Fake Steve Resurrecting? I have been exchanging emails with Dan Lyons, the man behind Fake Steve, and he revealed some scary news. I emailed him [...] [...]
September 4, 2008 at 8:42 am
[...] the good news. Dan Lyons, the man behind Fake Steve Jobs, has suggested that his fictional alter-ego may be ready for a return. Earlier in the summer, Dan left his job at [...]
September 4, 2008 at 10:26 am
The blogger ‘orac’ at the Respectful Insolence blog is, I believe, an oncologist. He posted an informative hypothesis about what’s going on with Jobs based on public information and educated guesses.
Basically, the surgery Jobs had for his cancer involves a major rejiggering of the digestive plumbing, which can cause significant but non-fatal problems.
September 8, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Yeah, maybe all FSB’s connections want to say is that Real SB is “really sick”. In his ways. With quotes. But that would be stretching it. And even kidding with this kind of stuff is sick.
September 9, 2008 at 6:16 am
I have never met Dan Lyons personally, he may be a great person, good with kids, a humble and upstanding citizen n all that…
But my only impression of him over the last couple of years, is through the ill-informed, biased and poorly researched articles he has produced, combined with his arrogant and somewhat narcisistic “fake steve” persona he has created to somehow create this illusion of credibility or journalistic relevance.
So, I would like to ask you then, why you are at all interested in the irrelevant things this clown has to say anyway ?
September 14, 2008 at 5:04 pm
[...] Apple’s CEO. Unfortunately this probably won’t be the end of it. as the media has become quite obsessed with the well-being of the cupertino [...]