Steve Jobs - Agenda Setters 2008

Name: Steve Jobs

Title: Apple CEO

Position: 2    Last year: 2

Why? Making tech sexy

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• Tim Berners-Lee
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• Richard Thomas

That Steve Jobs should appear on the Agenda Setters list again in 2008 should surprise no one: the Apple boss has been a stalwart of the list for some years. His continued presence, however, is testament to his ability, as the figurehead behind the Apple brand, to incessantly pull new tech fireworks out of the bag.

Not only has Jobs spent his time since the last Agenda Setters poll polishing up old favourites like the iPod nano and turning the iPhone into the device it should always have been with the 3G launch, he's also turned his attention to making more money from the iPhone ecosystem.

As in previous years, panellists doffed their caps to Jobs for his ongoing innovation in hardware and software. But this year they also paid tribute to the Apple CEO for his work with the Apps store, the marketplace the company created to sell applications for the iPhone that is fast on its way to becoming a billion dollar business and one whose success has inspired a slew of imitators.

Amid another memorable year for the Apple head, the Agenda Setters panel offered unstinting praise. Jobs wins his place "for constantly advancing the agenda in terms of consumer products, hardware, product design and applications", said one panellist. Another chose him for "being the figurehead of the most innovative consumer focused technology business in the world consistently for nearly 30 years and for his pioneering vision with Pixar".

Jobs is truly an enduring Agenda Setter.