Apple CEO Steve Jobs is no stranger to this list, it will be his fifth appearance after first appearing in 2004. He made subsequent appearances in 2005, 2007 and 2008. This year he is in the category Thinkers and features alongside impressive and varied figures such as the chief designer of Donna Karan Intl. Zaha Hadid, Drs. Douglas Schwartzentruber and Larry Kwak who are working towards a vaccine against cancer and Elon Musk, a rocket scientist.
Job’s entry in the list is written by sculpture artist Jeff Koons who is also no stranger to criticism. Koons has critics in disagreement over his work who wonder if he is pioneering or just kitsch, so a fitting choice. Though I would grumble that the write up for Jobs is far too short! He only has two paragraphs so maybe it’s the case that his work is so prolific and publicized that we don’t need any more? I wanted more.
Luckily, you can get last months Time for the article ‘Inside Steve’s Pad’, by Stephen Fry if you are looking for more information on Jobs. While you’re there you may want to check out the 1982 cover with Jobs for the, ‘America’s Risk Takers’ issue. Not only is it always funny to see those retro covers, but it is an interesting way to look at his journey from initial ideas and concepts to where we are now. Are we on the verge of every household having an Apple product, and how did we get there?
Koons does mention,
“Apple’s core ideal has always been to make people’s experience of computing as accessible and pleasurable as possible.”
…which I think sums up beautifully the exact Apple experience, accessible and pleasurable, all technology should be this way.
So, with all the raving about the iPad and how it has the potential to revolutionize computing and education, we may get too see Jobs overtake Oprah’s whopping 8 entries on the list.
On a personal and irrelevant note, couldn’t they find a better picture of Jobs for the extended cover?
Read the full listing and all the entries for World’s Most Influential People.