Steve Jobs, Apple

Of course, Apple has another huge advantage: A brand based on maintaining a narrative that keeps consumers interested and anticipating. At any point, Jobs can pull a rabbit out of his hat and introduce something revolutionary, as he did in 2001 with the iPod and again with the iPhone six years later. “With Apple,” says Engadget editor-in-chief Joshua Topolsky, “you never know what they’re going to come up with.”

Such expectations can work against Apple, too, which is what happened with the much ballyhooed G4 Cube, a piece of modern art whose high price led to disappointing sales in 2006.