[redacted]

You don't actually need a gmail account for what its worth - Google just makes it difficult. On the screen where it requests a login you (seriously) need to tap each corner of the screen in clockwise order starting from the top left. That should skip the step.

[ianlevesque]

That's useful, and user-hostile. On iOS you can just tap "Skip this step" if you don't want to use an Apple account with it.

[Mikeb85]

Yet you need an Apple account to download anything from the App Store or iTunes... An iPhone without apps is barely useful.