Wired Magazine has just published their 2005 edition of ‘The Wired 40′, which purports to be a list of global movers and shakers in the areas of technology, innovation and “the vision thing”. 
Appearing at #1 for the first time is Apple Computer. Wired offers its kudos for Apple’s talent and pusuit of excellence, as evidenced by the 8.2 Million iPods sold in 2004. Sales from iTunes and of all those iPods and contributed mightily to Apple’s outstanding financial performance last year. 
Dropping a point to #2 we find last year’s top dog, Google. I guess the frenetic pace of innovation as shown by Google’s desktop search, maps, movie times, and searchable TV listings, was not enough to sway the judges at Wired and save Google from this demotion. 
And moving up smartly from 6th to 3rd is Samsung Electronics. Wired makes note of the fact that Samsung’s 2004 profit was more than Sony and Panasonic and Nokia and Motorola put together. Indeed, a recent article in the New York Times states that “Samsung Is Now What Sony Once Was“, referring to the width and depth of Samsung’s product lines. The Times also includes a chart (see below) that compares the market caps of both companies; it shows that Samsung became the more valuable co in 3Q2002. 
Considering Samsung’s $10B profit, and its torrid pace of new product introductions in 2004, we here at Gadgetmaniac respectfully suggest that Samsung have its ranking upgraded by a notch or two. The 37 also-rans include the following companies : Amazon, Yahoo!, Electronic Arts, Genentech, Toyota, Infosys Technologies, eBay, SAP, Pixar, Cisco, IBM, Netflix, Dell, GE, Medtronic, Intel, Salesforce.com, Vodafone, Flextronics, EMC, Nvidia, Jetblue, FedEx, Monsanto, Microsoft, Nokia, Costco, Comcast, Pfizer, Li &Fung, Taiwan Semiconductor, Gen-probe, Citigroup, L-3 Communications, Ameritrade, Exelon, and, rounding out the list at number 40: BP. Gadgetmaniac commentary : this year’s Wired 40 is an interesting list. We like Genentech, Toyota, GE and Exelon; we prefer Wipro and/or Tata instead of Infosys, and ATI in place of Nvidia, and, lastly, we question IBM’s presence on the list .. despite its horde of about 40K patents. The Wired 40 - 2005 edition
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I think IBM has to be included with so many patents to its name every year.
This is a fascinating list. I’m sure Google and Apple will be contenders for #1 for a long time to come.