Job: founder, Android, senior vice-president of mobile, Google
Age: 48
Industry: technology and telecommunications
New entry
Andy Rubin is the general leading Google's battle against Apple for control of the mobile operating systems of the future.
The search giant has expanded its lines of business, and is now replaying the technology war Microsoft fought against Apple 20 years ago. Then the prize was to supply the dominant software for desktop computers and Microsoft won. Now it's about smartphones and tablet computers.
Rubin grew up in New York state, surrounded by electronic gadgets promoted by his father's direct-marketing business. He founded Android in 2003 to write operating software for mobile phones, and it was bought by Google two years later for an estimated $50m.
That looks like a paltry sum given that 100m phones, tablets and other devices now run on Android, which was created as an open platform for any manufacturer and app developer to use. Sales of Android-enabled phones outstrip those of BlackBerrys and even iPhones.
"The volume and variety of Android devices in the market continues to exceed even our most optimistic expectations," Rubin blogged recently.
Our judges believe Rubin matters to media because smartphones are fast replacing traditional PCs as the primary means of accessing the internet, and whoever controls them will act as "gatekeeper" to what appears on their screens. Apple may be ahead, but Google is catching up fast.