Top Apple ‘Evangelist’ Now Is Done

Guy Kawasaki, the unorthodox former “chief evangelist” of Apple Computer, is hanging up his bullhorn.

Even after he launched Garage.com, which matches start-ups with venture capitalists, Kawasaki had continued to flog the misinformed in the press and the public and to tout the virtues of all things Apple through his EvangeList newsletter and Web site.

Last week, he told about 40,000 of the faithful that his services were no longer needed.

“In the past two years, Apple has experienced a stunning turnaround. This is due to many things, including the steadfast loyalty of Apple’s customers--and EvangeListas are the most steadfast of the steadfast,” Kawasaki wrote.

“The original purpose of EvangeList was to counteract the negative news about Apple and Macintosh, and I believe that EvangeList has served its purpose--fantastically, as a matter of fact. So after discussing what we should do with EvangeList with the folks at Apple, we’ve decided to retire the List.”

Rhona Hamilton, an Apple spokeswoman, agreed that the newsletter “really served its purpose.” Now the company has its own electronic news bulletins, and many Web sites are devoted to the Mac and other products.

“We think everyone will be taken care of,” she said.