i've had one for about a year, and have used the camera about 20 times - not much but the times i used it were really helpful.
For example I was shoe shopping at this giant sale a few weeks ago and saw a pair of purple heels that my sister would absolutely love so I took a photo of them and sent it to her and she dropped in later that day to pick them up.
Another time I purchased some stands for our greeting card business and needed to know how to put them back together but there were no instructions so I photographed it and copied it when i got home.
Think of how many times a day you say to someone 'you should have seen this thing i saw today' ... as with everything, its up to the companies to market it to people so they can't live without it.
There is a great series of commercials here on TV like 2 girls getting ready to go out, they message each other what they are wearing and it happens to be the same. Disaster averted thanks to picture messaging!!