Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs is a finalist for Time Magazine‘s Person of the Year. Jobs, who returned to lead Apple after a liver transplant, is in third place, just two votes behind U.S. President Barack Obama (2008 Person of the Year) and trails Iran protesters.
If he won, the title would follow Jobs’ win in November as Fortune‘s CEO of the Decade. Jobs is the single business person on the annual list for Time’s year-end cover.
In nominating Jobs, the magazine remarked the Apple leader “has continued to show the rest of the consumer technology world how it’s done.” Time noted the success of the iPhone and the App Store, which crossed the 1 billion download mark. However, with success comes a larger target for critics.
“While consumers continue to snap up the iPhone and its apps, more and more customers in major cities are griping about the poor wireless coverage that comes with it from AT&T. That comment echos the New York Times’ article which also blames the iPhone. Another potential negative for Jobs being named: rival smartphones like the Droid nipping at the iPhone.
[Via Time’s voting page and 9to5Mac]
