iPhones and iPads and Nike’s (NYSE:NKE) sneakers are certainly cool products, especially among young people craving for innovative goods. But are they worth giving away a kidney to acquire them?

For most people the answer is definitely no, but not for the seventeen-year old boy in China who sold one of his kidneys and used part of the proceeds to buy an iPhone and an iPad. What can explain this rather unusual behavior? Why anyone would pay such a stiff price for two gadgets?