Originally Posted by Dubai Stu

In the US, however, the problem is that you can't get people to understand the real cost of smartphones. Until you can do this, the whole notion of paying less (initially) for a smartphone and having the difference rolled into monthly payments will be the norm. It is the same mentality that made zero principle mortgages popular a few years back or why people continually vote for candidates who continually vote to slash taxes without looking at how they make up the deficits (e.g. pushing the debt out to the future with costly notes or raiding all Government reserves so that it is the next guy's problem).