Acclaimed biographer Walter Isaacson spent three years conducting "exclusive and unprecedented" interviews with the famously closed-off Apple co-founder. Isaacson also interviewed Jobs's family members, colleagues, and Apple competitors. The book is being billed as the "definitive portrait of the greatest innovator of his generation."
Amazon has begun taking pre-orders for "iSteve" at almost half off list price. Pre-order a hardback version of the 448-page book for $16.50 instead of $30, or a Kindle e-book version for $14.99 (calling into question how much it'll go for at Apple's own e-bookstore iBooks).
Amazingly, at press time it has already climbed to No. 13 on the Amazon Bestseller Rank of the top 100 books, and No. 1 on the rank of business biographies and technology books.
Jobs joins an elite circle of profile subjects by Isaacson, including Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, and Henry Kissinger. A former journalist at Time magazine, former CEO and chairman of CNN, and a Rhodes scholar, Isaacson is currently the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute.
Publishers Simon & Schuster have been savvy with the timing of its "iSteve" announcements. When the news first broke in February, Jobs had just received a standing ovation when he resurfaced from a medical leave of absence to announce the iPad 2.
Today Jobs will re-appear at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference.
There are numerous unauthorized biographies of Steve Jobs, but this is the first written with his blessing. A search for "Steve Jobs" on Amazon produces familiar titles like "The Steve Jobs Way: iLeadership for a New Generation" and the controversial "iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business."