I really pity all those people who live in that Market where those questions are really questions...

Where did it go wrong? Because of the market really must be completely open? Not regulated at all by the government?

I am really glad that i dont live there if we talk about the mobile market, because the 2 questions you ask above are not even questions at all in the country i live (The Netherlands)
They are both "of course"

I never buy a phone from the carrier.. that is a very stupid move because those are mostly branded. And that is most of the time not things like that and this is disabled. But just some pictures and some apps in the firmware. But then suddenly i cant upgrade to the firmwares Nokia sends out, so i will never buy one from the operator.

But thats not a big deal, there are so many independent phone providers that will sell the phone subsidized. And then the question is never will it work for the provider i want? Because which ever provider i choose it will always work (gsm or hsdpa)

Thats why i call free market and choice..

Back on this topic about the N900 making it or not, i do think Nokia will be surprised how well it will do. But they should market it way better yes i agree with that. They have gold in there hands and they should exploit that to the maximum.

I do here are lot of stuff, but it is so expensive.. What?? expensive?? It is cheap!! My current phone (E90) was 800 euro's when it was introduced! And if you compare it to the other high end phones from nokia N97 (mini), X6 they are all not really way cheaper.. So why are there so many complaining about that fact?