Fortune’s Elmer-Dewitt on striking out on his own

Fortune writer Philip Elmer-Dewitt was interviewed by “Full Disclosure” host Roben Farzad about leaving Time Inc. after 36 years to start a website covering Apple dubbed Apple 3.0.

“I should have done this years ago, frankly,” said Elmer-Dewitt, 66. “Other people have proved that you can make a living writing about Apple on your own. You don’t need a publication to support you.”

Elmer-Dewitt has followed Apple since 1983, and he wrote 12 cover stories for Time’s magazines. In addition to Fortune, he also worked at the now-defunct Business 2.0.

He started working at Time in 1979 as a temporary secretary. “I saw that reporter/researcher was a job that I could do, and after I put in for it, they moved me pretty quickly,” said Elmer-Dewitt, noting that the magazine needed someone to write stories about the fledgling computer industry.

At Business 2.0, “The rule was if you worked at Business 2.0, you had to write a blog,” he said. He started writing about religion. “As you know, Apple is a cult,” said Elmer-Dewitt. When Business 2.0 folded, he returned to Fortune and continued his Apple blog.

Elmer-Dewitt’s site charged $10 a month and $100 a year. “I wouldn’t even be trying this if I didn’t know that it has worked,” he said. “I’ve talked to everybody who has done this that I could reach. I’m told that it grows slowly.”

He said that Apple’s strategy of not commenting to reporters about stories makes his job easy, and he doesn’t want to replicate coverage about the company that comes from others who cover Apple.

“One thing I can do is work those analysts,” he said. “If I do a podcast, it will probably be analysts.”

Listen to the entire interview here.