Amazon/iBookStore post pre-releases of iSteve authorized biography: The Book of Jobs
Amazon today lists the Walter Issacson authorized Biography of Steve Jobs, the one commissioned by the Apple CEO last year. Issacson will have had three years of access to the normally reclusive Steve Jobs.
Context & Ripple Effects
Steve Jobs quietly commissioned Walter Isaacson's authorized biography last year, granting the normally reclusive Apple CEO's chosen writer three years of access — a confirmed arrangement that until now has produced no public artifacts. The pre-release listing surfacing on Amazon is the first commercial trace of that project, giving the book a title ('iSteve: The Book of Jobs') and a retail presence months before any publication date.
The timing lands at a high-water moment for Apple: its market cap has just passed the combined value of Microsoft and Intel, its retail arm is marking ten years with iPad-based Smart Signs, and unconfirmed reports point to an iCloud service and iOS 5 at WWDC 2011. A definitive, access-based account of the company's founder entering the retail pipeline during that run gives booksellers a rare title whose demand rides Apple's own news cycle.
First-order effects
- Amazon secures early pre-release positioning on a biography whose author's three years of access make it the presumptive definitive Jobs account, locking in pre-order demand ahead of rival book retailers.
Second-order effects
- Other book retailers must decide whether to match Amazon's early listing posture, since a title tied to Apple's momentum rewards whichever storefront captures pre-orders first.
Third-order effects
- An executive commissioning his own biography with multi-year access — rather than waiting for an independent writer — points toward authorized books becoming a deliberate instrument for controlling how tech founders' stories are told.
The trend: Founder narratives are becoming managed corporate assets, with authorized-biography access granted years ahead of publication rather than left to outsiders.