I just wrote an article on the fact that handset makers and carriers are laying out quite a bit of money in the form of increased subsidies and under-$200 pricing, plus sleek television ads, for their new crop of smartphones aimed at the Christmas shopping season and how it’s a pretty good bet. Then I thought ... do I live in an alternate universe?

I came to the “good bet” conclusion given the fact that analysts think the segment will grow and given the continuing success of the iPhone and the G1. People might opt for a smartphone for their loved ones this year, since the vacation and the flat-screen are likely out of the budget, I reasoned to myself, using the logic I picked up from various sources throughout my life, like playing endless amounts of the original “Raiders of the Lost Ark” game on Atari and figuring out how to smuggle a keg into a dorm room (answer: Persian rug).

But who are these “people” of which I speak? Well, all I know is that I’m not one of them. I would love a smartphone and would like to get friends and family smartphones as well because they’re cool and useful and cool and ... cool! And the dropping prices are awfully attractive. But who has the dough? Not me. My peeps will be lucky to get a handmade reindeer made out of the twigs I pick up in the backyard.

Basically, I am not the target consumer this year, and it’s all because of our lovely economic crisis, which I’ve started to personify. He looks like a bald, overweight, dead-eyed flabby man. Kind of like Karl Rove.

And, OK, I admit I feel a little bitter about it all. And I’m wondering if we can do a reality check on the analysts. Are YOU planning to purchase a smartphone this season? Why not? I’d love to hear some anecdotal background for my reporting and commentary. It would be especially telling considering all y’all work in telecom.

So please do e-mail me your take: tseals@vpico.com.