This may be a bit off topic, but has anyone seen the new vertu mobile phone? www.vertu.com It seems to be an attempt at a new direction in mobile phone handsets. It sports such features as jeweled bearing buttons, display with sapphire crystal, ceramic back cover, etc, etc, all for a mere 6,000 euros (of course this is the base model trimmed in stainless steel with no accessories, the top of the line platinum trimmed model is only 18,000 euros more).
I guess the reason I bring this up is this is similar to a thread here a while ago where a watch-like calculator was described with ceramic case, sapphire crystal, etc. Granted, I assume that the market for a "Cadillac"/status cell phone is much greater than that of an unnecessarily fancy calculator (although I would imagine that if this is successful, an absurdly fancy PDA or similar device can't be far off), but some market studies somewhere have suggested that there are enough people who are willing to pay $25K for a cell phone that it has justified this endeavor.
While best of kind objects really intrigue me, I still can't get over the gall of marketing a $25,000 cell phone. This truly is the ultimate symbol of a civilization with way too much disposable income (and don't get me wrong, I love to blow money on unnecessary things - I guess that's one of the reasons I'm amazed that I am so galled by this product).
Dave, if you don't feel this thread is germane, please feel free to take it down - I just wanted to see what others' thoughts were.