There’s been a lot of talk recently about the “true” cost of an iPhone. This is in reference to the costs of a two year contract with AT&T. For the most part, I’ve found this all a bit, well, obvious. People are campaigning about the thousands of dollars an iPhone ends up costing as if its the first cell phone to require a contract.

However, I did read one good article in this vein today at TheStreet.com entitled The True Cost of an iPhone? Try $17,670. The gist of the article is this: If you were to instead invest the $2,720 it costs to purchase and own an iPhone for two years, when you retire in 35 years you would have an extra $17,670.

To me, it doesn’t feel like this article is trying to convince people not to purchase an iPhone as much as it is an article to remind people not only of the importance of retirement savings, but also about how much compounding interest really adds up to. Which is great, because it takes a purchase that I’m sure many people are contemplating buying, and reminds them that you should always consider where your savings stand (whether it’s emergency savings or a house down payment) before buying what may be a somewhat frivolous expenditure.

I would love an iPod, and would probably use it a fair amount too. Yet at $599, it’s simply too expensive for me to consider, and being in the realm of technology, is something that I like finding a way around.  Same with an iPod … while I would love the sleekness and easy to use interface, I am just as happy using the 1GB Sandisk MP3 player I got from Woot for $14.99.

I also suppose this is a good time to mention I am quite happy with my share of Apple (APPL) up about 9% since I bought it last week. Considering the higher than expected sales and margin on the phone, I’m not too surprised!