Does the category (or key words) of the page which publishes your links have any connection with transferring page rank to your site? In other words, if I am trying to promote a website where the primary product is shoes, does it matter what type of page publishes my link ... can it be a high ranked site for (example) "tourism"? I've noticed several websites in my targeted key words that have high Google Rankings (and an extremely limited amount of relevant products/brands) .... they also have an established network of links (townships) and I've seen where many of the sites on these links get higher ratings than would be expected, considering the amount of related products they sell from their sites.
As far as PageRank, it does not matter. As far as relevancy, it probably matters and will matter more in the future. Look for good PR links on pages that use your keywords (esp. in the page title) and of course, your keywords in the anchor text.