I was speaking to a friend of mine the other day, a venture capitalist, and in conversation started talking about Apple's iPhone... "You have to have one -- it's like a BMW or Audi -- you just have to have one of those down here. Do you think they'll sell out on the first day?"  I'm trying to think why that particular statement bothered me on a couple levels; was it the surrender of critical thinking to brand? The brazen compulsion for trendiness?  Validation through consumer preference?