[lwhi]

It's might be backwards, but it's an unfortunate truth.

I live in Europe too .. but go to any phone shop, and you'll see that carriers pick specific phones to support. People traditionally buy phones with contracts - and a lot people shy away from buying a phone upfront (although this trend seems to be waning).

Also, a large part of the massive amount of money that's spent on marketing comes from the networks. Without their support a phone platform would be dead in the water.

I don't think the iPhone situation was an example of market forces creating pressure, I think the intention was always to allow other networks access .. in the UK Apple had a specific business relationship with O2 which must have been profitable for both parties. I think restriction to one network, was an example of clever (devious) marketing.

The situation will continue to change - but for the time being the power of these carrier networks is an unfortunate fact of life.

[biafra]

Subsidies can and should be independent from carrier exclusivity. It was in germany since the late nineties. Until the iPhone I could get any GSM-phone on any carrier with a subsidy (for extending my contract).