Revered screenwriter Aaron Sorkin has been hired by Sony to pen the script for their biopic based on the life of Steve Jobs, the company has announced.

To be based on last year's biography, Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, the project is distinct from the indie production currently underway, which has cast Ashton Kutcher to play the Apple founder.

Responsible for films like A Few Good Men and TV shows like The West Wing, Sorkin is one of the most highly regarded writers in Hollywood, and has even proved himself in the tech space, having won an academy award for writing the successful 2010 film The Social Network, about the founding of Facebook.

Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, offers this in the statement: "Steve Jobs' story is unique: he was one of the most revolutionary and influential men not just of our time but of all time.

"There is no writer working in Hollywood today who is more capable of capturing such an extraordinary life for the screen than Aaron Sorkin; in his hands, we're confident that the film will be everything that Jobs himself was: captivating, entertaining, and polarising.