The $10.5 million BlackBerry: island included

(Credit: Uberphones)

While we're not in the habit of praising marketing campaigns, this one from Sprint and RIM at least shows that some people are trying things beyond such cliches as mystery ads and countdown commercials. In pushing the BlackBerry 8830 World Edition smartphone, the two companies are advertising "the first $10.5 million cell phone--an exciting limited-time offer for billionaires."

According to its special site, the phone comes bundled with with an "exotic island" for $10.5 million--$199.99 for the handset and $10,499,800.01 for the land. It even goes so far as to include a pull-down menu with options to use bank accounts based in such tax shelters as Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. But as Uberphones notes, you'll eventually encounter a message that says: "Are you sure you're a billionaire? There is no way we would sell a commodity as precious as an island on a site that just anyone could access. If you are in fact a billionaire and you're still interested in purchasing an island, our broker would be happy to help you find one..."

The contact is [e-mail]. For us, the $100 rebate is more our speed.