THe BART police in SF suggest you not wear white earphones because it might get you robbed. This implies that there's still quite a bit of status associated w/ iPods and iPhones.
Does it have to imply status, or simply that it's easy to sell them quickly on craigslist? I'm not saying an iPod or iPhone isn't the best solution for many people, just that I don't really think of them as conferring status in the same way that, say, a cell (car) phone did 10 years ago, or a Ferrari does today.
