I got my daughter a Curve 2 last week as she got a job. She picked it over the Tour, Storm 2 and the other smart phones at Verizon. Her company (she got a job before she graduated from college) pays for the BlackBerry BIS service.
My 1/2 cent comment based on inflation.
Kris,
Have you looked at the app store via a Storm 2? Not as bad as I expected. i like my S2 but I learned to pull the battery every two weeks.