Ive up against Bansky, Sir Tim Berners-Lee

Two Apple-related personalities have made TIME's annual list of the 100 most influential people. Among these is the company's CEO, Tim Cook; the TIME essay on him is written by Al Gore, who has served on Apple's board of directors for about nine years. "It is difficult to imagine a harder challenge than following the legendary Steve Jobs as CEO of Apple. Yet Tim Cook, a soft-spoken, genuinely humble and quietly intense son of an Alabama shipyard worker and a homemaker, hasn't missed a single beat," Gore writes.

"Fiercely protective of Jobs' legacy and deeply immersed in Apple's culture, Cook, 51, has already led the world's most valuable and innovative company to new heights while implementing major policy changes smoothly and brilliantly.

"He has indelibly imprinted his leadership on all areas of Apple -- from managing its complex inner workings to identifying and shepherding new 'insanely great' technology and design breakthroughs into the product pipeline."

The other Apple-connected person on TIME's list is actually Walter Isaacson, who has written biographies about Jobs, Benjamin Franklin, and Albert Einstein. His TIME essay is by former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright. "This is influence of the best species, educating us while demonstrating the continued fascination of the seriously examined life, rendered by Isaacson with the objectivity of a true historian and the flair of a born storyteller. But what most separates Isaacson, 59, from would-be peers is his wisdom in choosing subjects whose individual talents have affected all our lives," she says.

Apple's senior VP of Industrial Design, Jonathan Ive, has meanwhile been shortlisted for a British Visionary Innovator award. The competition is run by the Intellectual Property Office, and is intended to promote World Intellectual Property Day. While Ive is credited with much of the look and feel of Apple's products, he faces intense competition. This includes the likes of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the web; James Goodfellow, who created ATMs; fellow industrial designer Sir James Dyson, and Sir Ian Wilmut, who cloned Dolly the sheep. Some celebrity candidates are TV producer Simon Cowell, Harry Potter writer JK Rowling, and graffiti artist Banksy.

The public can now vote on candidates until 5PM local time on April 24th.

by MacNN Staff