Apple's long-awaited mobile phone is the main reason its CEO Steve Jobs has leapt back up the Agenda Setters rankings.
Apple launched the iPhone at the end of June in the US, and sold one million there in 74 days, before unveiling its plans to bring it to the UK in time for Christmas. And whether you love it, or simply love it but can't afford it, Apple has set the agenda again with the mobile phone.
As one Agenda Setters panellist put it, the whole mobile phone industry "held its breath" when the iPhone came out.
In terms of both design and functionality, the iPhone has left other handset makers scrambling to respond. And it also seems that Apple has been able to strike a deal with the telecoms carriers to take a slice of the revenue coming from mobile users - turning the industry standard around and reflecting how keen mobile operators are to be associated with the device.
But it's not just gleaming hardware that swayed the panel - Jobs' ambition extends far further than that, stretching into content in the form of music and film on iTunes.
He's also on the board of Disney, since it acquired Pixar last year. And we haven't even mentioned any of the more traditional Apple products.
As one member of the panel said: "I think it's incredible that Jobs has made the music industry wholly a subsidiary of Apple. The same with the movie industry and now Apple's taking over the mobile phone industry."
Jobs may well have been a fixture in the Agenda Setters for a number of years - he was at number 5 last year - but his skill in driving the resurgent Apple shows there's still plenty in the tank.
Expect more excitement from Jobs in the coming year, with speculation around upgrades to the iPhone and iPods already feverish.
Position
Year
Plot position against other Agenda Setters
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
The world's 50 most innovative companies BusinessWeek
The world's 100 most powerful women Forbes.com
Chron 500 - The San Francisco Bay Area's top public companies San Francisco Chronicle
100 fastest growing tech companies Business 2.0
Mobile maker Palm has been around for years and was making touchscreen phones before the iPhone was a twinkle in Steve Jobs' eye but the Pre is Palm's most eagerly anticipated phone for years. While every man and his dog seems to be bringing out a...
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs is back to work following a near six-month medical leave, the company said on Monday. A company spokesman said: "Steve is back to work. In January, after initially blaming his noticeable weight loss on a hormone...
Steve Jobs had better come back to Apple soon. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown might be as popular as Steve Ballmer in a Mac developer workshop but he knows how to tap into the populist vibe to detract attention from the state of his government.
Back in the late 1990s, one of the first things Steve Jobs addressed on his return to the company was Apple's confused and disjointed product portfolio. Jobs soon rationalised the product strategy and cut the Mac into four segments: pro desktop...
To Apple and Steve Jobs: You know you owe a nod of the hat to Napster and Fanning, right? Ten years after the launch of digital music upstart Napster, Gartner analyst Mike McGuire ponders the controversial program's legacy.
Firstly, Steve Jobs won't take the stage: hopes that the CEO might make a big return were dashed when the name of Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller was allocated to the keynote slot. Statements coming from Cupertino earlier this year say Jobs has...
Copyright © 2008 CBS Interactive Limited. All rights reserved. Top of page
RSS Feeds