iphone for middle schoolers

I started a thread with similar issues. My child [12 y/o going into 7th grade] has a sidekick. He got the sidekick after having a very cheap phone for two years that he kept up with and NEVER lost. As many people have said, these fons are too expensive to have a child not keep up with them, or worse, have them stolen. HOWEVER, he also has to maintain at least a 3.5 gpa [I'm considering making it a 3.8 this year] AND I got the fon on sale [$70 for what is usually a $200-$300 phone].

As a matter of fact, EVERYTHING my child gets is because I find it at a great deal. My child and I acquire items throughout the year, and not just around certain dates [back to school, Christmas, b-day etc.] because we end up saving more that way. There have been times my child gets one to two gifts at Christmas because he'd received [cheap] things all year [and the fact that I STRESS holidays are about giving and NOT receiving]. So he learns valuable lessons, he is very tight with a penny, and laughs at his friends when they brag about how much they spent. He will whip out a similar item, that he got at a small fraction of wat they paid. His friends are starting to catch on a little now, and they too "bargain shop."

SO, I said all of that to say, you probably need to set up some parameters or conditions of him recieving such a phone, include [academic] performance he must maintain, and contingent upon price at which you may purchase the item. I'd personally hate for my child to have some inflated [unwarranted] sense of entitlement, and buying it because "he'll be left out of the group" would definitely contribute to sense of entitlement.