Tim Cook Makes Shortlist for TIME's 2012 Person of the Year

timcookTIME today unveiled its shortlist of people who are being considered for TIME's annual Person of the Year Award. Apple CEO Tim Cook is on the list, as well as Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer.

The Person of the Year award is given to "a person, couple, group, idea, place, or machine" that has "for better or for worse done the most to influence the events of the year." TIME's editorial team decides the winner.

The two tech CEOs join notable figures like Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani activist who suffered a head wound after being shot by the Taliban, United States President Barack Obama, Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and the three scientists behind the discovery of the Higgs Boson.

In 2011, Steve Jobs was posthumously nominated for TIME's Person of the Year by NBC Nightly News Anchor Brian Williams, but he did not win. He also did not make it to the final shortlist. This year, Cook has worked to bring some production of Apple products back to the United States, and to improve working conditions for factory employees. He also stepped up to accept responsibility for Apple's Maps failure and restructured Apple's management.

The Protestor, a group choice inspired by Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian fruit vendor who famously set himself on fire in a public square, received the award in 2011, while Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg won in 2010.

TIME's 2012 winner for Person of the Year will be announced tomorrow morning.

Popular Stories

iPadOS 26 App Windowing

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
Logitech Logo Feature

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
iOS 26 Screens

Here Are All the iOS 26 Features That Require iPhone 15 Pro or Newer

Thursday June 12, 2025 4:53 am PDT by
With iOS 26, Apple has introduced some major changes to the iPhone experience, headlined by the new Liquid Glass redesign that's available across all compatible devices. However, several of the update's features are exclusive to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models, since they rely on Apple Intelligence. The following features are powered by on-device large language models and machine...
apple beta 26 lineup

Apple 'Sherlocked' These Apps at WWDC 2025

Wednesday June 11, 2025 7:14 am PDT by
Apple at WWDC previewed a bunch of new features coming in its updated operating systems, but certain changes will have been met with dismay by third-party developers who already offer apps with equivalent or similar features. In other words, their product has been "sherlocked" by Apple. When Apple creates an app or a feature that has functionality found in a third-party app, it is referred...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

Hate iOS 26's Liquid Glass Design? Here's How to Tone It Down

Wednesday June 11, 2025 4:22 pm PDT by
iOS 26 features a whole new design material that Apple calls Liquid Glass, with a focus on transparency that lets the content on your display shine through the controls. If you're not a fan of the look, or are having trouble with readability, there is a step that you can take to make things more opaque without entirely losing out on the new look. Apple has multiple Accessibility options that ...
maxresdefault

Everything Apple Announced at WWDC 2025 in 10 Minutes

Monday June 9, 2025 5:21 pm PDT by
At today's WWDC 2025 keynote event, Apple unveiled a new design that will inform the next decade of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS development, so needless to say, it was a busy day. Apple also unveiled a ton of new features for the iPhone, an overhauled Spotlight interface for the Mac, and a ton of updates that make the iPad more like a Mac than ever before. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel ...
CarPlay Liquid Glass Dark

Apple to Let iPhone Users Watch Videos on CarPlay Screen While Parked

Thursday June 12, 2025 6:16 am PDT by
Apple this week announced that iPhone users will soon be able to watch videos right on the CarPlay screen in supported vehicles. iPhone users will be able to wirelessly stream videos to the CarPlay screen using AirPlay, according to Apple. For safety reasons, video playback will only be available when the vehicle is parked, to prevent distracted driving. The connected iPhone will be able to...

Top Rated Comments

aerok Avatar
163 months ago
I wish they didn't nominate any CEOs in the list... It should be reserved to actual heroes of the world that actually thrived to make changes to help humanity without any profit-driven intent.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
samcraig Avatar
163 months ago
Sorry - Tim Cook is arguably a great business man - but he's no Time Person of the Year.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
LagunaSol Avatar
163 months ago
I think Cook is doing a great job, but Person of the Year seems premature. Much like Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize his first year in office. :rolleyes:

And why in the world would Bill Clinton even be on the consideration list???
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mantan Avatar
163 months ago
Let me get this straight, the article is giving him credit for bringing 200 jobs to the US, encouraging FoxConn to be just a semi-sweat shop instead of full sweat shop and apologizing for the Maps Fiasco and that's worth 'Person of the Year'???

That's flat out laughable.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Patriot24 Avatar
163 months ago
If this award was handed-out by looking at the top Google search terms for the year, Kate Middleton would have easily won.

TIME's "Person of the Year" is really "The USA's Person of the Year", and even that is debatable.

I like Tim, but he's not curing cancer. Methinks we should look elsewhere for our heroes.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
aerok Avatar
163 months ago
I wonder what the criteria is for "Person of the Year."

Famous for anything apparently
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)