Apple Is the World’s ‘Most Admired Company’, 4th Year in a Row

Apple has become Fortune’s “Most-Admired” company for the fourth year in a row, with the business magazine noting that ”The company’s blistering pace of new product releases has continued to set the bar high for tech companies across the board.”

Fortune acknowledges that its #1 admired company “took a stock hit when iconic CEO Steve Jobs announced in January that he'd be taking a second medical leave, two years after receiving a liver transplant during a six-month sabbatical.”

However, Apple’s operations were not taking any blows because of this. In fact, the company was still "firing on all cylinders," according to its CEO quoted by Fortune.

The publication agrees with this statement after witnessing Apple’s doubling quarterly profits, the iPad 2 introduction, and Steve Jobs’ surprise appearance last week.

Indeed, the timing couldn’t have been better for Apple to put its CEO back on stage - where it is clear that he belongs, as the tech-world’s most iconic CEO.

Amid rumors of Jobs’ cancer having returned, the Apple boss took the stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts’ Novell Theater to introduce the next-generation iPad.

Jobs said that iPad 1 had literally “flummoxed” competition, and suggested that iPad 2 should do at least the same.

Undoubtedly, Jobs’ showmanship is a key factor in making other tablets look DOA (dead on arrival).

Fortune also praises Apple’s January announcement that the iPhone 4 was coming to Verizon, which reignited the handset’s popularity while also enabling non-AT&T fans to grab one.

The CDMA iPhone 4 has a redesigned antenna which, according to at least one reputable source, improves cellular reception and Wi-Fi.

“Another huge move by Apple was the announcement this January that the iPhone 4 would be available from Verizon, offering another option to consumers frustrated with dropped calls on AT&T,” reads the magazine’s analysis.