Reading this thread I had this horrible mental image of an led under the bezel - you know the way you see lights around vehicle license plates? Every time the phone rings, the bezel blinks purple or green making it the perfect phone for my student population.
Bleh.
As adults who know we are dependent on our phones, we should be able to just look at it regularly to make sure we haven't missed something career changing.
That makes no sense, I guess as adults we don't need all kinds of things.. A notification light would come in real handy for us adults who work in environments where we cannot access our phones constantly and need them.
Just because something isn't interesting to you, or anyone else doesn't mean Apple shouldn't add it. There were many people last year who hated the idea of a front facing camera, and went on and on about how it's "un-Apple like", and how they would never use it. Once Steve Jobs announced it they all changed their tune though.
There are so many more important things to worry about in this world whether or not someone might make their phone light up, I don't care one bit about what others do with their phones. If some people don't want to use a certain feature they don't have to, and the funny thing is iOS5 has a notification light, it's just on the back and way too bright for everyday use. So I don't see what the opposition is all about.
The iPhone 1, 2, 3, and 4 all still work for those apposed to change