Apple

No doubt this will incite the ire of the iCult, but once you're done flooding the forums and flaming the messenger, let's all just take a deep breath.

The trend gods always get a laugh out of pop culture's propensity for deifying everyday products. And while Apple has made its name combining sharp design with great technology, the brand's true appeal comes from the fact that consumers are hooked on the hype.

Apple has made an art of packaging existing technologies. But in an age when no-name companies make phones of equal quality at a fraction of the price of an iPhone, how long can Apple keep sales and its cool factor up? Only as long as it can sustain the hype. And with the Google phone on the horizon, it's going to take a lot of hype.