Here's an nice more in-depth review of the multi-touch situation with the Droid and Apple's tenuous and not entirely existent patents:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/04/s...nd-multitouch/

Engadget points out, as they did with the Pre, that Apple does not actually appear to have a patent on the pinch-to-zoom multi-touch capability. So it's pretty unlikely it has anything to do with why this feature is available in the European Droid and not the U.S. one. They also point out that Windows 7 and the HD Zune have pinch-to-zoom enabled. And Apple has not said a word, further suggesting that there's nothing Apple can do about it (because if they could why would they let arch enemy Microsoft "steal" the feature?). They also point out that if Apple had a patent claim, Google would already be in violation since multi-touch support is built into Android 2.0 (even if it's not implemented). So they just don't buy that Google is worried at all about Apple and multi-touch.

Engadget says there are some claims that the pinch-to-zoom feature on the European Droid was implemented by Motorola. And Google implied it was Verizon's decision to leave it out on the U.S. Droid. And Engadget thinks what's most likely is that Google just hasn't finished developing multi-touch yet, but that it will be on future devices. Still they conclude, as I do, that the whole situation is just weird and doesn't really have a good explanation, given what's known.