Yep. The American market is just too different. Not enough carrier variety/competition, GSM not ubiquitous enough, too many 2-year contracts, no end-user SIM market, etc. etc. If you can't play nice with the carriers to get your handsets into the stores and into official channels, you're selling to the hardcore minority only that know how to support themselves.

To rebel is to take a beating to your bottom line and leave a nice big gap for another manufacturer to fill. Only regulation will solve this, and good luck beating those lobbyists.

Now... an iPhone designed as an unlocked phone might have been the breakout mass-market sensation that finally got citizens to care about the issue -- they definitely had the public momentum to do so. But they went with AT&T exclusivity because they needed them for features and support and that's exactly why networks are so annoyingly powerful in this business.