 No. 2 Steve Jobs, CEO, Apple
Last year's position: 1
The Apple boss hasn't fallen far from the top of the tree. Last year's winner misses out on a second year atop the poll by the narrowest of margins, with the panel convinced the next 12 months will see Steve Jobs continue to set the agenda in the worlds of hardware, gadgets and entertainment.
iTunes and the iPod continue to grow in popularity and more importantly revenue and the core business of Macintosh computers and the Mac OS remains buoyed by a fervent fan base. Form still remains a priority and the new G5 has raised the bar once more.
The challenge this year for Jobs will be innovating around the products he already has in the market and ensuring the iPod continues to fight off the advances into the sector of other players.
Jobs has this year survived a cancer scare and reopened old wounds with his sparring partner Bill Gates who once again seems to be paying very close attention to the developments within Apple.
It's to take nothing away from Jobs to suggest his popularity and the 'he's not Bill Gates' factor play a major part in his success in this poll.
He continues to win hearts and minds in the industry by playing the 'good guy' against Gates and Ballmer - a role for which he found new relish recently when attacking Microsoft over Longhorn and its unfavourable comparison to Apple's Tiger OS and putting the boot into the Redmond behemoth for its belated entry into the music download market.
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