Being just one step away from the top leadership position at Apple Computers, the speculation continues as to whether Jonathan Ive, currently the company's senior vice president for industrial design, could be the next company CEO.

The speculation regarding Ive is related to talk about Apple Computers' need to prepare a successor to current CEO Steve Jobs. Find out more after the jump!

Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl but she doesn't have a lot to say
Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl but she changes from day to day
I want to tell her that I love her a lot, but I gotta get a bellyful of wine
Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl, someday I'm gonna make her mine...

Now while our admiration for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth doesn't go as far as what John Lennon and Paul McCartney had in mind in their song, "Her Majesty," it's still might fancy (or should we say fon-sei *Brit accent*) to get noticed by the Queen for your creativity and achievement.

Such is the honor that Jonathan Ive received when the Queen honored him as a Commander of the British Empire during the Queen's New Year Honours. If you have no idea who Jonathan Ive is, he's the one responsible for that wheel scroll thing on your iPods and the sleek design of your iMacs.

A primer on Jonathan Ive for those who don't know him: born in the UK in February 1967, he studied industrial design at Newcastle Polytechnic and started working for Apple in 1992. However, it wasn't until way back in 1998 when Steve Jobs adopted his iMac design that he reached his famous status.

After this, he has taken on designing various products for Apple but his best known design yet is without a doubt, the iPod. This skyrocketed his career in Apple, with Jobs propelling his career even further to become Senior VP of Industrial Design at the company. Prior to the Queen's CBE, he was also hailed as Designer of the Year by the Design Museum London in 2003 and has been given the title of Royal Designer for Industry by The Royal Society of Arts.