Apple CEO famously opposed to previous bios

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has agreed for the first time to participate in a biography of his life, says the New York Times, citing two sources described as having been "briefed on the project." The work is currently said to be in early planning, but set to cover the executive's entire lifespan. The writer, Walter Isaacson, has allegedly been invited to visit Jobs' childhood home.

Isaacson is perhaps best known for writing bestselling biographies of Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin. He is also a former managing editor of Time, and recently authored American Sketches, a collection of essays on the foundations of leadership. It is these credentials which may have attracted Jobs' involvement. All previous biographies -- such as The Second Coming of Steve Jobs by Alan Deutschman, and iCon: Steve Jobs, the Greatest Second Act in the History of Business by Jeffrey Young and William Simon -- have been unauthorized, and written by people with smaller credentials.

Jobs has expressed anger at some of the books' views, and in fact exploited Apple assets for retaliation. When iCon was released, Jobs had all books by the work's publisher, Wiley, removed from Apple Stores.

by MacNN Staff