That’s the thing. It would be pretty much fine if they’d said that you’re supporting the development of the mobile software ecosystem, and get a toy device to play with, but their marketing can be pretty misleading.
The question, of course, is whether it would work any other way. But it still leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.
(Then again, they’re expensive enough that I hope anyone buying them has done enough research beforehand to know what things are really like, or doesn’t care about the money that much.)