Apple’s Jobs named ‘most powerful’ businessperson
Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs tops the “Power 25″ list in the current issue of Fortune, ahead of News Corp.’s (NWS) Rupert Murdoch, Goldman Sachs’ (GS) Lloyd Blankfein, and the Google (GOOG) guys.
My colleague Brent Schlender wrote the item, which says, in part:
Since returning to Apple in 1997, he has changed the dynamics of consumer electronics with the iPod, and persuaded the music industry, the television networks, and Hollywood to distribute their wares with the iTunes Music Store. With his hugely successful Apple Stores, he gave the big-box boys a lesson in high-margin, high-touch retailing. And this year, at the height of his creative and promotional powers, Jobs orchestrated Apple’s entry into the cellular telephone business with the iPhone.
That’s five industries that Jobs has upended — computers, Hollywood, music, retailing, and wireless phones. At this moment, no one has more influence over a broader swath of business than Jobs.
You can read the rest of his article here. A photo gallery of the full list is available here.
- Analyst: Apple will sell 4.47 million iPhones this quarter
- Best Buy to sell iPhones starting Sept. 7
- Steve Jobs: 60 million iPhone apps downloaded
- iPhone: Trouble in the App Store
- iPhone nano: A rumor before its time
- On the road
- iPhone apps: 1,001 and counting
- Jobs tells Times: No cancer
- Who is to blame for MobileMe?
- Two weeks later, New Yorkers wait 4 1/2 hours for an iPhone
- I do not like Best Buy and would not... More
- say goodbye to the iphone and hello t... More
- Why don't you change the name of this... More
- Eh, I guess you can't get everyone to... More
- An Iphone Nano would be nice, it woul... More
- don't forget you don't need the roku... More
- "My wife is unhappy with the iPhone b... More
- I was discriminated against at best b... More
- Make that 60,000,001 sweety.... More
- The big questions are: Is this wha... More
Silicon Valley veterans like to joke that Steve Jobs must be surrounded by a reality distortion field; if you get too close to him, you start to believe what he's saying. Thanks to the success of the iPod, the launch of the iPhone and the renewed interest in the Mac, Apple has made believers out of millions of customers - and made a lot of investors rich. But Philip Elmer-DeWitt believes that an ounce of skepticism never hurts when writing about the company. He should know. He's been covering Apple - and watching Steve Jobs operate - since 1982, first for Time Magazine, then for Business 2.0, and now for Fortune.
