Why does nearly everyone have either an iphone or a blackberry?

Is there no such thing as individuality anymore? I'm 21 and have had the same phone for about 3 years, its a sony ericcsson w200i and it does everything i need it to do, it phones people, texts and wait for it… I can listen to over 1000 music tracks on it and more! Why do i need the internet on the phone the size of a brick when i have a laptop? And what's with all the touch screen phones, BUTTONS ARE BETTER! I got offered one a while ago but i refused, do people get them just because everyone ellse has one and have it to feel like they are 'fitting in'?
and why do so many little kids have them?

Added (1). A friend of mine dropped his and the screen cracked, i have dropped my phone 100's of times and it bounces

Added (2). Caesar- i have used other peoples iphones, i wouldnt call touch screens natural at all plus you constantly touch the wrong letter/number and the keyboard things are tiny… You could buy a car with the money you spend on an iphone

Yep coz they are sheep's lol

Further to your question.
most people tend to drift with the tide of opinion, I guess.

The cost.

Yea you have a phone that can call and text people, but you'll be paying to do that. IPhone, Blackberry and Android all have tonnes of apps that let you message people for free. With Skype and other apps you can call people for free, video call people, for free, people on the other side of the world.

Most of these phones come on tariffs that include free Wi-Fi.

They are compact.

You have a laptop, that's great, but a phone is compact, lightweight, fits in your pocket, you don't need to be carrying round a bulky laptop.

They are convenient.

Shock horror, most people actually find their phones useful. So what if you can use it for making calls and texts, there's a million other things you can do with a smart phone. You can do your banking, shopping, look up places for directions, find things on the go, and there are a tonne of games on these phones too, not just games you play alone but tonne of social games you play with other people.

They aren't all fragile.

There are plenty of smart phones that won't smash if you drop them. As for the ones that don't there are insurance policies most networks provide and they are cheap, if it breaks you get a brand new replacement, in some cases you even get a newer phone.

Touch is intuitive.

Touch is a more natural interaction than buttons, the majority of smart phones also have on screen QWERTY keyboards so you can actually type rather than using a "phone keypad". Pinching to zoom in and out, panning with your fingers to scroll and navigate around the phone, seeing what you want and tapping it is a lot more natural that using buttons.

I hardly think you are being fair, you clearly haven't given this much thought and for someone to ask this question you have decidedly shown that your opinion is set and you aren't willing to have an open mind so what was the point in asking? You said you were offered one and you turned it down so you didn't even give it a chance - how can you criticise something you haven't approached with an open mind, that's pure prejudice.