From a Vodafone locked Nokia users point of view (until I got my N900), I can quite understand where he's coming from. He just needed to look deeper and further afield than just "salesmen".

The networks are partly to blame for Nokia's demise, in the fact that they have been in control of software updates where their branded handsets are concerned.

For example- My old N95- 8GB is still on the latest Vodafone branded firmware, which happens to be 2 versions behind the generic Nokia version, with "No further updates planned, as we haven't been told of any newer versions" (Vodafone's words on their forum).

Even with the N900 they tried to restrict updates and services. Type my N900 product code into NSU and it will tell you what the latest "Vodafone approved" firmware is. T-Mobile refused to stock the device because Nokia didn't and wouldn't provide a means for them to fill it up with their network lockouts and corporate bloatware, same reason that Orange didn't stock it. O2 stocked the N900 for a short while, but because customers couldn't use O2's services they steered customers away towards competitors devices.

Vodafone customers had to fight tooth and nail to get PR1.3 for the N900. Vodafone didn't release the "Pre- PR1.3" patch, so they had to go to Nokia and beg for a double release because PR1.3 couldn't be installed over PR1.1. Once they got that sorted they still took months to release because they had to "Test it to see if it worked with all Vodafone's services". Eventually, the truth was leaked by a Vodafone employee that they were trying to have the "Unsupported" apps and services removed (things like Skype and other services).