Apple stores pull Wiley titles over new Steve Jobs biography
In its latest desperate attempt to control the media, and more specifically the presses, Apple has pulled all books published by John Wiley & Sons from its retail stores in protest of an unauthorized biography of Apple CEO Steve Jobs about to be released by the publisher.
"The books disappeared from Apple stores last week after a month of increasingly contentious discussions about publication of the book, "iCon Steve Jobs : The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business,'' author Jeffrey S. Young told The Mercury News.
The book, co-authored by William L. Simon, is said to offer "an unflinching account of the rise, fall and rebirth of one of Silicon Valley's most charismatic figures."
"It became increasingly clear that Apple was not happy with the publication of the book," Wiley executive Kitt Allan told The Mercury News. "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."
Some of the titles being pulled include David Pogue's popular "Macs For Dummies," and Bob LeVitus' "Mac OS X Tiger For Dummies." Meanwhile, about half a dozen books by long-time Mac columnist Andy Ihnatko have also been dropped, including "The Mac OS X Tiger Book," "The Mac OS X Panther Book," and "The GarageBand Book."
"It stinks," LeVitus told The Mac Observer. "I'm sad that Mac users won't find my books at the Apple Store. At the same time I'm 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 don't expect to lose many sales (or much sleep) over the whole sordid affair."
You can pre-order your copy of "iCon Steve Jobs : The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business'' from Amazon.com for $16.47. It's expected to ship in May.
"The books disappeared from Apple stores last week after a month of increasingly contentious discussions about publication of the book, "iCon Steve Jobs : The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business,'' author Jeffrey S. Young told The Mercury News.
The book, co-authored by William L. Simon, is said to offer "an unflinching account of the rise, fall and rebirth of one of Silicon Valley's most charismatic figures."
"It became increasingly clear that Apple was not happy with the publication of the book," Wiley executive Kitt Allan told The Mercury News. "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."
Some of the titles being pulled include David Pogue's popular "Macs For Dummies," and Bob LeVitus' "Mac OS X Tiger For Dummies." Meanwhile, about half a dozen books by long-time Mac columnist Andy Ihnatko have also been dropped, including "The Mac OS X Tiger Book," "The Mac OS X Panther Book," and "The GarageBand Book."
"It stinks," LeVitus told The Mac Observer. "I'm sad that Mac users won't find my books at the Apple Store. At the same time I'm 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 don't expect to lose many sales (or much sleep) over the whole sordid affair."
You can pre-order your copy of "iCon Steve Jobs : The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business'' from Amazon.com for $16.47. It's expected to ship in May.
Comments
Originally posted by Not Unlike Myself
What could be so bad about the book?
Well if the author slags of Jobs or makes him look bad - Jobs has a temper rembmber! Remember ATi
Later,
kc
If it is a book co-authored by individuals who've had personal gripes with Steve Jobs all one creates is half-truths, conjecture and misinformation about Steve which reflects poorly on Apple.
Here is a concept: Objectivity warts and all should be the only purpose of writing such a book. However, since everyone loves to gossip one can downright falsify and/or embellish information that isn't factual, create more half-truths ultimately selling millions because we know how very few people enjoy reading about icons if there isn't gossip thrown into the pot.
Originally posted by coxnvox
The title would lead one to think the book was complimentary of Jobs, wouldn't it?
Later,
kc
If iCon is meant to mean "Icon" with the 'i' lowercase in order to be cute, then yes. If it is meant to be "Con" with an Apple-style 'i' in front, then no.
Just from that title, I'd be a little pissed too if I were Jobs.
Originally posted by coxnvox
The title would lead one to think the book was complimentary of Jobs, wouldn't it?
Later,
kc
Not necessarily -- the first thing I see when I read the title is "iCon" which could be seen as "I con...".
As in, a less than complimentary reference to the famous / infamous Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field.
Originally posted by ct77
Not necessarily -- the first thing I see when I read the title is "iCon" which could be seen as "I con...".
As in, a less than complimentary reference to the famous / infamous Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field.
I read it as i Con - but icon as well (as a second meaning)
Attempting to intimidate the publisher by dropping all of their titles in Apple Stores in retaliation is another. Very, very lame -- downright pathetic in fact.
it hasn't been a good week for Apple. first Tiger ships early, then the Amazon G5 announcement, and now this book. sh*t like this happens when you're big and you want to control every little detail. it's just not possible.
we've all heared Jobs
Originally posted by AppleInsider
In its latest desperate attempt to control the media, and more specifically the presses,
Folks, I hate to play devil's advocate, but the reality is that Apple can stock whatever they want in their stores. There's nothing draconian or evil about them making decisions based on what companies make them happy. If I ran a business and a publisher did something I didn't like, I would probably do the same thing. It's their store, their shelves and their space. There is nothing Big Brother-ish about it.
Now, if Apple were pulling strings to get book stores and libraries to do that same, then maybe you would have something, but just pulling things from a publisher that makes them unhappy...? That deserves to be labelled a "latest desperate attempt to control the media"? That's overreacting a bit. Get a grip.
Originally posted by mdriftmeyer
What's bullshit is ethically if you are going to do an unauthorized biography of a person that you don't subjectively inflate or deflate the persona you are authoring.
If it is a book co-authored by individuals who've had personal gripes with Steve Jobs all one creates is half-truths, conjecture and misinformation about Steve which reflects poorly on Apple.
Here is a concept: Objectivity warts and all should be the only purpose of writing such a book. However, since everyone loves to gossip one can downright falsify and/or embellish information that isn't factual, create more half-truths ultimately selling millions because we know how very few people enjoy reading about icons if there isn't gossip thrown into the pot.
+1 -- you hit the nail on the head. it's people like you that balance out the tree-hugging hippies and titty whiners with logical, non-subjective COMMON SENSE.
Originally posted by inkswamp
Folks, I hate to play devil's advocate, but the reality is that Apple can stock whatever they want in their stores. There's nothing draconian or evil about them making decisions based on what companies make them happy. If I ran a business and a publisher did something I didn't like, I would probably do the same thing. It's their store, their shelves and their space. There is nothing Big Brother-ish about it.
Now, if Apple were pulling strings to get book stores and libraries to do that same, then maybe you would have something, but just pulling things from a publisher that makes them unhappy...? That deserves to be labelled a "latest desperate attempt to control the media"? That's overreacting a bit. Get a grip.
The fact is that Apple pulled all books from the publisher in question in retaliation for publishing a non-authorized biography of Steve Jobs. It is a form of media control, which isn't fair for the authors of the other books suffering the brunt of the ban. It does raise numerous questions about how business can subvert the investigative imperative of the news media. True, the subject matter isn't of much importance, but the company's action does have implications for other situations. It's a desperate action chiefly because the matter is so trivial.
*And as a general rule, just because something is profitable or makes good business sense doesn't mean it's morally acceptable. Business decisions are not divorced from morality.