Who wrote iCon Steve Jobs and when was it published?
iCon was written by Jeffrey S. Young and William L. Simon and published in 2005. It is an unauthorized biography focused on Steve Jobs's return to Apple in 1997.
Questions about ICon
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What does the title iCon mean?
The title carries two meanings. It refers to Jobs as a cultural icon with admirable qualities, and it encodes the phrase I-(am a)-Con, implying a con man who used charisma, described as a "reality distortion field," in harmful ways. The lowercase "i" also references Apple product names like the iMac, iPod, and iTunes.
Why did Steve Jobs ban John Wiley and Sons from Apple stores?
Jobs banned all John Wiley and Sons publications from Apple retail stores as retribution for the company publishing iCon, the unauthorized biography by Young and Simon. The ban covered the publisher's entire catalogue, not just the book about Jobs.
Did Apple ever lift the ban on Wiley books after iCon was published?
Yes. In its 2010 annual earnings report, Wiley disclosed it had closed a deal to make its titles available for the iPad, ending the effective exclusion from Apple's platform.
What earlier Steve Jobs biography did Jeffrey S. Young write before iCon?
Young wrote Steve Jobs: The Journey Is the Reward in 1988, making iCon the followup volume published nearly two decades later.
Who criticized iCon for resembling an earlier Steve Jobs biography?
Alan Deutschman criticized iCon in an article for the San Francisco Chronicle, pointing out similarities between the book's content and his own prior biography, The Second Coming of Steve Jobs.