You said -- "I suspect that most buyers will buy it for one of these two reasons. The cell phone market will not be conquered by attracting such buyers, however - $500 and a 2 year commitment to Cingular for a phone that won't fit easily in a pocket are not marketing inducements."
I've got a six-year-old Nokia (a 3285 model) and it's been running fine for all those years. I've never seen the need to get rid of it (and I'm not rough on it). I've only had one major accident with it and that's when I fell off a bike and the phone took the worst of it. I replaced the cracked screen for about $25.
People that know me look at it and say, "Have you still got that old thing?" And yes, I do... But *now* is the first time that I've ever considered changing -- and it's going to be for a good reason. I figure that I've leap-frogged over quite a bit of stuff that wasn't necessary and now -- this is something that is going to be useful for just as long as I have this present phone (because of how far advanced this iPhone is). So, I'm looking forward to it.
Regards,
Star Traveler