When I lived in Egypt in the late 90s mobile phones were taking off but stupid expensive for your average Egyptian wage. Despite this they rapidly became a "must have" item and a symbol of wealth. I remember reading in the paper that some dude crossing the road with a phone stuck to his ear got himself run over and killed. Turned out the phone was a plastic toy.There was a guy that wanted an iPhone so bad that he did surgery in some back alley to sell his kidney, but he got a nasty infection and was bedridden for the rest of his life IIRC. At least he got the iPhone.