Cell phones for Kids?

My wife and I are pretty much in agreement that our kids, ages 8 and 11, are not going to get cell phones for quite some time. Frankly they just don’t need them – we don’t leave them alone, and they are not in afterschool programs. But they desperately want a phone because all, yes ALL of their friends are carrying phones around now. Nice one’s too. It’s to the point where my kids know more about cell phone models than I do.
Are we out of line in thinking that it is a bit absurd to allow our kids to have cell phones? Or has it become such a commonplace convenience that we shouldn’t make a big deal of it and just get them? For quite some time it was easy to say no simply because of the cost, but at this point getting the device is free, and since we already have a plan in place, adding additional phones is relatively cheap.

I’m looking for comments, experiences, and any recommendations you have.

BTW – I was looking for an image of a kid on a cell phone to include in this post, and couldn’t resist the kid on the old school phone. The fact is though, selling phones for kids has become a big business. This image search on Google will give you some idea.