Introduction
In Bangladesh the use of expensive luxury cell phone is quite common among the rich, namely the upper class people. Cell phone was first introduced in Bangladesh by City Cell in the mid nineties; at first it was luxury then it became necessity. However, many people from the middle class and upper middle class are also becoming more interested in buying expensive cell phones. Renowned mobile phone manufacturers such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola have already opened their sales and service centre in Dhaka. It is evident that the sale of these cell phones is satisfactory for them. Nonetheless, we cannot forget that Bangladesh is a country where even a little comfortable life is a distant dream of many people. But it is also true that there are a good number of affluent people who are lucky enough to get more than just comfort; they are living in luxury. And expensive cell phones are just a part of their lives. Luxury cell phones have now become almost an essential item for rich people. “The price range for luxury cell phones starts from Tk. 20,000 to 60,000 and they are available at different shops in Shoppers World, Eastern Plaza, Rifles Square and other markets. There is a demand for cell phones even costlier than Tk.1 lakh or above. For instance, there are cell phones which have gold plated covers and there are also cell phones which have diamonds embedded on the casing. The rich and influential businessmen and their offspring are the primary customers for these state-of-the-art cell phones (Alam, 2008).
For them, having expensive cell phones is a status symbol. These people are just few among many citizens of Bangladesh who are more than fortunate to afford such extraordinarily lavish life-style in this poor country. It is interesting because even 6 to 7 years ago, almost all the people who could afford cell phones were happy with a very limited number of cell phones, which were not very costly but good enough....