I'll be voted down for this on HN, but unforunately Android is reversing a lot of this progress. Buy the average Android handset and it has all sorts of stupid carrier modifications that no end-user would ever have requested. It's like the crap-ware that PCs have installed with them straight from the factory, except that you have to do a lot more work to get rid of it.
The iPhone is free of this because Apple's success let them give AT&T the finger when it came to carrier modifications. As the iPhone loses ground to Android in the market, expect the pressure on Apple to mount. Would Apple ever have an AT&T splash screen on the iPhone? They sure wouldn't want to, but if that's the only way to keep the iPhone on the market, it'll happen. Who knows how much further it'll go...
The iPhone is free of this because Apple's success let them give AT&T the finger when it came to carrier modifications. As the iPhone loses ground to Android in the market, expect the pressure on Apple to mount. Would Apple ever have an AT&T splash screen on the iPhone? They sure wouldn't want to, but if that's the only way to keep the iPhone on the market, it'll happen. Who knows how much further it'll go...