Steve Jobs has been named the most powerful person in business for 2007, according to a new list compiled by Fortune Magazine

The publishing house put Apple's chief on top of a list of what it considers the 25 most powerful people in business. Aside from Jobs, the list includes a number of other technology executives, including the founders of Google, Microsoft and Cisco, but none came close to wielding his cross-industry influence.

Jobs has exerted a profound influence on the computer industry, Fortune explained, altering the industry not just once, but twice.

In 1977 the Apple II kicked off the PC era, and the graphical user interface launched by Macintosh in 1984 has been aped by every other computer since, the magazine explained.

Jobs returned in 1997 and changed the consumer electronics landscape with the venerable iPod, which he later used to persuade the music and film industries to support with content. Not stopping there, he then opened his own stores to sell not just the iPod, but all Apple products - a move unprecedented in the electronics world.

That's five industries that Jobs has upended - computers, Hollywood, music, retailing, and wireless phones. At this moment, no one has more influence over a broader swath of business than Jobs.

The list also included Rupert Murdoch of News Corp, and Indra Nooyi of Pepsi, Ratan Tata of the Tata Group, and a number of others.

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