Book of Jobs – Apple CEO sanctions biography

11 Apr 2011

The very private Mr Steve Jobs has given the go-ahead for a biography to be written about him by writer Walter Isaacson. iSteve: The Book of Jobs will be published by Simon & Schuster early next year.

Jobs, who is known to be private yet knows how to stir up media excitement every time a “magical” new device like an iPhone or iPad exits the Apple factories, has agreed to participate in putting together the biography.

Isaacson has been working on the biography since 2009 and has interviewed friends, family and Jobs’ competitors.

Isaacson is a former journalist at Time magazine and CNN and has written best-selling biographies on Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin.

It is the first time Jobs has agreed to participate in a biography, despite many attempts being made to catalogue the enigmatic tech CEO’s life.

Apple had banned works by publishers John Wiley & Sons from its stores in 2005 because iCon: Steve Jobs, The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business by Jeffrey Young and William Simon was unauthorised.

Jobs’ recent decision to take medical leave following years battling illness, including a hormone imbalance that was robbing him of proteins, has probably given him the opportunity to reflect and softened his stance on leaving a permanent, authorised record of his achievements since co-founding Apple 35 years ago.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com