Could Saint Steve of Jobertino be the most powerful man in business?

Sure Fortune does not favour plain vanilla, but what has it been smokng?

Holy smoke! 2008 may not be bringing a recession, it may be bringing seeds of depression if what Fortune magazine says is true. The magazine has named Apple's spiritual and temporal leader, Steve Jobs as the BSD, the most powerful man in business for 2007. The economy may be in deeper doo-doo than anyone dreams.

The naming of Saint Steve (the butt of innumerable Our Lady of Mini-Meat jokes) is fairly strange given that there are CEOs of bigger and more powerful companies, however Brent Schlender of Fortune claims that Jobs has up ended the computer, Hollywood, music, retailing, and wireless phones market.

"At this moment, no one has more influence over a broader swath of business than Jobs," he gushed.

He breathed heavily that Jobs was at the "height of his powers" last year when he introduced the Iphone. He also "gave the big-box boys a lesson in high-margin, high-touch retailing" with the wonderful Apple shops.

Saint Steve of Jobertino should be aware that it has to be damn careful when it lets Apple fan boys near the content studio during the silly season. It has been a good year for Apple, but as far as big business is concerned, Jobs is still a strawberry coloured cod in a sea of sharks.

Schlender's list places Jobs in front of Rupert Murdoch, the man who leaders of governments try to impress in a bid to brown nose their way into power. He is bigger than Lloyd Blankfein, the Chairman and CEO, Goldman Sachs, which many businesses depend on for finance. Jobs is apparently more influential than Warren Buffett

Chairman and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway whose outfit made $98 billion in 2006 and has his fingers in more pies than Mr Kipling. Fortune would have us believe that Jobs is more important than Rex Tillerson Chairman and CEO, Exxon Mobil.

Then there is Bill Gates, Redmond's own Prince of Darkness, who despite having the ability to make governments buy his fairly lack-lustre software, and makes shitloads more money than Jobs, is apparently less powerful than the fruit themed toymaker.

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/01/03/steve-jobs-powerful-man