New Steve Jobs Biography Coming by November, Publisher Says

A new biography of Steve Jobs by journalist Walter Isaacson will be published in November rather than next March, the publisher said.

"Steve Jobs: A Biography" will be published Nov. 21 because "the book is now ready," the publicity director for Simon & Schuster told the New York Times. The biography of the Apple CEO and co-founder is based on more than 40 interviews with Jobs, 56, as well as friends, colleagues and rivals.

Isaacson, a former managing editor of Time, which in 1982 made the personal computer "The Machine of theYear," is now president of the Aspen Institute as well as the author of biographies of Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Kissinger and others.

Unusual for Jobs as well as Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., Isaacson had full control over the book and wasn't required to submit it for clearance. Simon & Schuster said in a book synopsis "his friends, foes and colleagues provide an unvarnished view."

Jobs, who has been the subject of several biographies as well as books about Apple, has never previously cooperated with authors. Apple stores have been known to ban titles such as "iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business," by Jeffrey S. Young and William L. Simon.

The publisher's blurb continues, "Driven by demons, Jobs could drive those around him to fury or despair. But his personality and products were interrelated, just as Apple's hardware and software tended to be, as if part of an integrated system."

Jobs, while still Apple CEO, has been on indefinite medical leave for unspecified reasons, his third since 2004. During a prior leave, he underwent a liver transplant in 2009.

List price for the 448-page biography is $32.50. On Tuesday, Amazon listed the title for $20.40.