iPhone: Is it Ok?

I've been watching the hype that's surrounding the iPhone and experiencing some mixed feelings. I think I can sum these feelings up in three paragraphs;

1. It's Great
Looking at videos of the device and believing the reviewers when they say that it performs exactly as it does in the advertisements, I have to say that this is one classy device. It has indeed taken the mobile phone User Interface by storm and has shown people (and phone manufacturers) what can be done if you just put in a little effort. It's sexy, versatile and extremely desirable.

2. It's Nothing New
Coupled with silly initial limitations (such as being unable to use your iTunes tracks as ringtones), this phone doesn't actually offer anything new outside of the GUI. The internet, e-mail, chat and other facilities are old news to anybody who's been using Smartphones for years already. What Apple has actually managed to do is not take the world by storm with a fantastic new technology, but rather, with fantastic marketing. Honestly, to do all the iPhone can do, you don't need an iPhone.

3. What Have We Become?
Teens were spending their last dollars in savings, people were queuing for days to get to the store first and trying to buy their way forward and in the meantime, everyone was salivating over each and every tidbit of information that Apple released in the build-up to the release. I was amazed at how many people were buying more than one because 'it's the iPhone'. This mobile phone has changed people's lives (at least, their perception for the short term) and if that is the case, I think my question is very important; what have we become?

I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm just asking if it's Ok to spend thousands of dollars to buy a phone to play with, a phone to use in work and a phone to open up? Is it Ok to get as excited over online photos of an unboxing? Is it Ok to allow ourselves to bolster our sense of self worth because we've got something we're told is the next big thing? Is it Ok to consider someone as ever-so-slightly lower in class than us because they can't afford what we've got?

I'll say it again, I'm not saying it's wrong, but I want to ask if it's Ok to flash the fruits of personal wealth when that encourages covetousness, feelings of inadequacy, jealousy and maybe even lust?

And that's not even mentioning the 'haters' who are as strong against the iPhone as the fans are for it.

Such a broad spectrum of human frailty and fickleness seems to have manifested itself with the release of what is, really, just another phone. The fact that we can get so excited about something that doesn't save life or even make life more bearable tells me that maybe, what we've become (some may say 'evolved into') is really rather ugly.