Age: 33
Nationality: Swedish
www.microsoft.com

Back in 1995 serial entrepreneur Hjalmar Winbladh bet that using Windows as the focus for his firm Sendit, which developed service platforms for mobile operators, would give him a unique selling proposition.

The gamble paid off. Sendit was purchased by Microsoft in 1999, and Winbladh found himself playing an integral role in the development of the software giant's global mobile Internet strategy.

But why would a Swede work so hard to win market share for the giant American firm? Because Winbladh thinks Windows will be the platform of choice for mobile services and thanks in part to his efforts, Microsoft is making inroads in this field.

In September the company announced a collaboration with Vodafone U.K. on a European trial of corporate data services.

On the consumer front, alliances with phone manufacturers lag far beyond those of rival Symbian.

The vision thing: "If everyone else turns right and you are the smallest guy, you'd better turn left."

Forward Spin: Microsoft looks set to capture a significant portion of the corporate mobile data business, but success in the consumer space is far from guaranteed.

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