Based on contract costs I really think the names are reversed. I know I did not obtain a smartphone until work agreed to pick up the monthly costs.

The number of people who have them sometimes boggles my mind. I have friends and relatives for whom it is a major expense. People are paying quarter to half what they would pay on a car not for these phones.

I pay about as much per month to insure my car as I do for smartphone service and personally feel that I get more value out of my smartphone than I do out of my car. In fact I frequently find myself weighing the pros and cons of eliminating my car in order to save on recurring costs - this never enters my mind for the smartphone.

Hahah I never thought how weird this was. I live in a city, split the car with some loved ones, and almost resent the cost.

I can't pay enough to upgrade my instant effortless global communicator and sudoku machine though.

Agreed. While I have no plans on getting rid of my car, my phone is easily a more valuable and useful tool. Of course, I work from home as an iPhone dev, so you can take that with a grain of salt :-)