Apple Store Pulls "For Dummies" Books to Protest Jobs Biography

April 25th, 2005 at 3:00 PM - Reports by Bryan Chaffin

Apple Computer has pulled all books published by John Wiley & Sons in protest of an unauthorized biography of Apple CEO Steve Jobs about to be released by Wiley, according to a report by the San Jose Mercury News. Books pulled include titles by New York Times columnist David Pogue, as well as authors and long-time Mac columnists Andy Ihnatko and Bob LeVitus, both of whom write columns for The Mac Observer. Messrs. Ihnatko and LeVitus confirmed to TMO that their works had been pulled.

At issue, according to Kitt Allan, an executive at Wiley, is an unauthorized biography of Steve Jobs titled iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business (US$16.47 - Amazon), penned by Jeffrey S. Young and William L. Simon.

This is Mr. Youngis second go around on a Steve Jobs biography, the first of which, The Journey is the Reward ($14.78 - Amazon) was published in the 80s and covered Steve Jobsi ascent at Apple.

Mr. Young told the Mercury News that his earlier work offered negative portrayal of Mr. Jobs, but said that the new book was more positive, covering a Steve Jobs that had learned from what Mr. Young characterized as his failures at NeXT.

Whatever the issues with iCon Steve Jobs, Wileyis Kit Allan told the newspaper that, "It became increasingly clear that Apple was not happy with the publication of the book. Recently, the meaning of that became clear when Apple told us that our technology books were immediately being pulled from their Apple retail stores. But, of course, Wiley stands behind our authors."

It stinks

So far, itis that support of it the companyis authors that has resonated with Bob "Dr. Mac" LeVitus and Andy Ihnatko, two of the Mac authors caught in the crossfire.

"It stinks," Mr. LeVitus told TMO. "Iim sad that Mac users wonit find my books at the Apple Store. At the same time Iim tickled that Wiley did the right thing in spite of the pressure. Since Amazon.com, Borders, Barnes & Noble, WalMart and many other fine booksellers carry my books and have lower prices, I donit expect to lose many sales (or much sleep) over the whole sordid affair."

Andy Ihnatko, who voiced his praise for Wiley to the Mercury News, took a similar view when contacted by TMO for comment on the story.

"I keep coming back to the line from The Godfather...Itis not personal. Itis just business," he said. "Obviously Iim disappointed that Appleis dislike of one book has caused them to 86 everything from the same publisher, but Iive no reason to feel personally persecuted."

He added, "Plus, my publisher called me personally last week to explain the situation and apologize for the fallout. I told him that Wiley did the right thing in a bad situation. Iid much rather be here telling people my reaction to having my books pulled from the Apple store than talking about my reaction to Wiley killing a book under pressure."

A partial list of the books TMO pulled from the Apple Store:

Bob LeVitus:

• Mac OS X Tiger for Dummies ($14.95 - Amazon) [This book is not yet released, but was scheduled to be carried at the Apple Store when it was published]
• Dr. Mac: The OS X Files ($34.99 - Amazon)

Andy Ihnatko:

• The Mac OS X Tiger Book ($16.49 - Amazon) [This book is not yet released, but was scheduled to be carried at the Apple Store when it was published]
• The Mac OS X Panther Book ($19.79 - Amazon)
• The iPhoto 4 Book ($16.49 - Amazon)
• The GarageBand Book ($16.49 - Amazon)
• The iLife i04 Book ($16.49 - Amazon)

There is more information in the San Jose Mercury News story. You can find out more about iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business (US$16.47 - Amazon) when it is released in May of 2005.