Jonathan Ive, Apple chief designer
Position: 9 Last year: 15
Why? For introducing technology to good product design
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Jonathan Ive is the British designer who has set Apple's products apart from those of its rivals. More than that, he has established levels of design in consumer electronics that the rest of the industry has been forced to follow.
His pivotal role in creating a fiercely loyal fan base for Apple products worldwide is beyond question.
It's his ability to create what one Agenda Setters panellist called "simple, elegant and useable" devices that places him in a prominent spot on the list for the fourth year in a row and keeps him moving up the rankings.
His influence continues to be felt through new products, such as the hotly anticipated iPhone, which is already racking up a stack of accolades from reviewers and has already outshone other Apple launches in terms of sales.
Early in September, Apple redesigned the whole iPod range, with an emphasis on colour and wearability, staying one step ahead of the music player's many imitators.
More than any other designer, Ive has awoken the technology industry to the importance of design and taught consumers to believe that gadgets can also be stylish accessories.
In January Ive was included in Who's Who, the UK's directory of the great and the good.
Although Ive has a reputation for keeping out of the public eye, he was awarded a CBE in the 2006 New Year Honours list. He was also named Designer of the Year by London's Design Museum in 2003 and 2004.
Take a walk down memory lane - and find out who made the agenda setters poll in years past
"Blogging's definitely got to the point where there're enough mainstream consumers watching it for the top bloggers to be regarded as agenda setters."
Michael Smith,
Agenda Setters panellist
"Open source gets more important rather than being something that will get squeezed out of the enterprise."
Simon Briskman,
Agenda Setters panellist
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Content featuring Jonathan Ive
Design guru Jonathan Ive is known as Apple's strongest creative voice outside of Jobs, while former Target executive Ron Johnson is responsible for Apple's booming network of retail stores. Steve Jobs' medical leave puts the spotlight back on the...
Jonathan Ive, Apple's senior vice president of design, talks about a "breakthrough" in the way the laptops are designed. Apple CEO Steve Jobs on Tuesday announced updates to the company's MacBook laptop line-up, including Nvidia graphics, a glass...
Jonathan Ive Apple Yahoo! s board of directors won strong backing from shareholders at its annual meeting on Friday, with Jerry Yang, the company's embattled CEO, receiving 85 per cent of the vote in his favour.
Jonathan Ive Apple Infosys CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan is an unassuming man, who doesn't use his position to be imposing. It's less important for him to be the company's controller than to look like he is.
Jonathan Ive BT's CEO Ben Verwaayen is to step down as CEO on 31 May 2008 after more than six years at the telco where he championed its push into broadband and helped it dodge regulator Ofcom's axe. Verwaayen, who will also step down from the BT...
Jonathan Ive Google, Yahoo! and News Corp's MySpace.com have announced they have formed the OpenSocial Foundation, a not-for-profit group to support the OpenSocial initiative that Google kick-started last year to promote a universal standard for...
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