Steve Wozniak v. Stephen Colbert — and Other Pranks
and Other Pranks — Steve Wozniak showed up at our San Francisco studio riding in fine style... on a Segway. He had told me via email that he would just park anywhere in the city, and I imagined this multimillionaire going to some exclusive garage …
Context & Ripple Effects
The Segway entrance at the San Francisco studio caps a busy spring for Steve Wozniak's public persona: a standing-room-only Saturday talk at Maker Faire in May, then a June 29 appearance in the iPhone launch-day queue where he handed out shirts and signed line badges for waiting fans. Each stop has been under his own name, not Apple's.
That distinction is the point of this story. As Apple rides the iPhone launch, its co-founder is running a parallel publicity circuit built on pranks and gadget enthusiasm — arriving by Segway to see Stephen Colbert being the latest installment.
First-order effects
- Wozniak keeps himself in the consumer-gadget news cycle independently of Apple, days after the iPhone launch put the company he co-founded at maximum attention.
- Stephen Colbert's show gets a ready-made celebrity bit, and niche outlets like 10 Zen Monkeys get a first-person anecdote from hosting him.
Second-order effects
- Segway benefits from recurring celebrity use by a famously enthusiastic owner, reinforcing the product's association with tech personalities rather than practical transport.
- Event organizers and shows gain a reliable draw: Wozniak's willingness to show up in person — whether at Maker Faire or a comedy studio — makes him a booking that generates its own coverage.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, it points toward co-founders cultivating durable personal brands apart from their companies — a public identity that survives and operates alongside the corporate one, traded on through appearances, talks, and stunts.
The trend: Apple's co-founder is assembling a post-Apple public identity out of pranks and gadget stunts, part of a broader shift toward founders as standalone media personalities.