New Zealander Peter Jackson has been selected as fourth out of 50 nominees for the Digital 50, which recognises producers and innovators who distinguished themselves in digital storytelling in 2007.

The Hollywood Reporter reports that Jackson is currently directing The Lovely Bones, based on Alice Sebold’s best-selling book, and will next produce the sci-fi thriller District 9. He is also planning with Steven Spielberg to produce and direct three films based on The Adventures of Tintin, using 3-D animation and motion-capture technology.

Jackson completed his Oscar-winning The Lord of the Rings trilogy in 2003, filmed in New Zealand.

The Digital 50 is selected and voted on by members of The Producers Guild of America.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs was voted number one in digital entertainment for his launch of the iPhone and the continued growth of the iPod. Applie has sold 52 million iPods this year and nearly 1.4 million iPhones since its launch in June.

iTunes, which now accounts for more than 80 percent of online music sales, has sold more than three billion songs, 100 TV shows and two million movies. Jobs is a director of Disney which merged with Pixar – a company he co-founded that has grossed more than $3.2 billion worldwide.

John Lasseter, who oversees all Pixar and Disney animated films, was placed second.

Storyteller and writer-director Brad Bird was placed third. Bird made his film debut with The Iron Giant and followed that with The Incredibles and Ratatouille. He will direct 1906, based on James Dalessandro’s fictionalised account of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, which Warner Brothers plans to release in 2009.