The cheaper, usually Chinese foam stuff has really made it more appealing to get into the hobby. They're usually cheaper and obviously it's far quicker to get into the air than stick built planes were. Depending on how bad your crash is you can often glue a foam plane back together and get right back in the air, usually not (immediately) possible with a stick built balsa plane. My main interest is still fiberglass and/or balsa but I've picked up quite a few electric planes over the last few years. They're quick and easy without having to drag as much equipment around, I can leave one in the back seat of the car and pull off at a park or field on the way home from work.
Some stuff is fine and some of the cheap electronics will get you into trouble. I've seen Hobby King servos come out of the box not working and on the other hand I've ran two gallons of gas through one of their 20cc engines without as much as readjusting the carb. The prices on some of their electronics are very inviting and a lot of guys don't mind getting a bad servo or something here and there for the price but that can be scary too.
The Hellcat about half way down the page I can attest flies wonderfully until you dead stick it into the top of a tree.
My original motor failed about three minutes into the first flight, a direct replacement motor from the same manufacturer worked fine for the next 20-30 flights until the tree incident. Quality with this cheaper stuff is hit and miss and a lot of guys refuse to buy from them, but you just have to watch what you do and take price into account.