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The mobile industry is at an exciting stage: There are enough smartphone customers that there’s a huge field of opportunity for device makers, carriers, and app makers, but the market is still fragmented enough that no one company dominates. In this kind of frothy market, the risks are high, but the potential payoffs are huge, too.

The kind of people who thrive in this world are disruptive individuals. Troublemakers. Shakers-up of the status quo. Yes, we’re accustomed to writing about companies and their products, but true innovation always originates with human beings.

That’s why VentureBeat is naming the 10 individuals below as the Top Mobile Movers for 2012.

We asked for your nominations a week ago, sifted through the suggestions, added a few of our own, and vigorously debated the entrants. The finalists, here, are our admittedly idiosyncratic and (we hope) provocative choices. These 10 people are unusually effective at disrupting business as usual.

In two weeks, at our Mobile Summit, April 2-3, we’ll announce which of these 10 finalists we’re naming as the Top Mobile Mover. So stay tuned.

Want to be part of the debate? Use the form at the bottom of this post to vote on who you think is the most disruptive, innovative person on the list. Let us know what you think in the comments section. Or apply to take part in the conversation in real time at the Mobile Summit. It’s an exclusive conference of just 180 executives and investors, and while the room is filling up fast, we’re still accepting last-minute applications to participate. I hope to see you there.

Israeli on list:

Ehud Shabtai
CTO/Founder, Waze

Waze makes a driving navigation app with a twist: Its maps and traffic data are all supplied by Waze users. Ehud Shabtai started the company, according to his official biography, because he kept getting lost. A hacker, Shabtai searched for technical solutions, and started building the project that would become Waze.

With more than 15 million users, Waze’s traffic data has become reliable enough that it’s even powering local TV traffic reports. The company has also built in Siri-like voice commands, so you can simply wave your hand in front of your phone and ask it to give you traffic reports.

More than simply powering a lot of users, Waze has the potential to turn into a real community of people who are crowdsourcing map creation simply by driving around. What’s more, it could potentially make traffic overall flow in a more intelligent way. That’s a development worth getting excited about.

Full list via VentureBeat

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