I suppose this was almost fated. And no, it doesn't make any sense - at least not for discerning folk, like a lot of things these days.
You pay money for this camera, bring it in to have the pictures downloaded onto a CD. Then the pictures get purged from the camera, and the camera is sold again. This means,
1) The purveyors of this fine photographic equipment could stand to make a lot of money,
2) If you're really into it, and take lots and lots of pictures, you may eventually end up buying the same camera again (the next big fad!),
3) Some innocent, somewhere, somewhen, may end up getting a CD full of the previous user's naughty vacation snapshots because the store's teenage technician didn't purge the unit properly (accidentally or on purpose).
I'm sticking with my Kodak EasyShare, which has already paid for itself twice over since I bought it last March.