The authorized biography of Apple CEO Steve Jobs is set to be published early next year, according to the Associated Press.

Simon & Schuster announced it will be publishing the biography, which will be written by Walter Isaacson. Isaacson and Jobs have been working on the project since at least 2009, but the announcement by the publisher is the first official confirmation. The title will be iSteve: The Book of Jobs.

The book is being written with the cooperation of Jobs. Other biographies have had to contend with Jobs' notorious reluctance to give interviews. Two unauthorized biographies have been written in the last decade: iCon: Steve Jobs, The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business, written by Jeffrey Young and William Simon and published by John Wiley & Sons in 2005, and The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, published by Alan Deutschmann, published by Random House Inc. in 2001.

The former book resulted in Wiley & Sons titles being pulled from Apple retail store shelves. (Many of those titles were Mac-related technical books).

Isaacson has done biographies of several important figures, among them Ben Franklin and Albert Einstein. As this is an authorized biography few expect it to contain any damaging or controversial revelations. He is currently president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a policy think tank.

There has been some speculation that Jobs' agreement to the project is related to his ongoing health issues. The 56-year-old was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2004 and took a medical leave from Apple in January.

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