'Junkware' comes standard on Verizon, T-Mobile smart phones | Technology | Los Angeles Times

> However, Android isn’t the only operating system that’s victim to junkware. HTC’s HD2, a Windows Mobile phone for T-Mobile, also includes some unusual software picks, including a Blockbuster app. > > So who’s to blame for this annoying bloat? > > “I’d say the carriers might be more nefarious on this than the device manufacturers,” said **Steve Drake**, a mobile analyst for IDC. “The carriers have the final say about what goes on there” because they generally handle promotion, support and distribution of the phones. > > The exception to this is Apple, Drake added. Because the company has its own stores for distribution and technical support, the iPhone maker has avoided many of the pitfalls of the standard U.S. carrier-manufacturer relationship. > > “What goes in the box is a fight between the carrier and the device manufacturer that you wouldn’t believe,” Drake said. “A lot of it can be driven from a revenue perspective.” There are many reasons why I don’t like the fact that Apple uses AT&T as its exclusive carrier in the US.

The lack of competition for AT&T has led to higher pricing, longer waits for features like tethering, and an overloading of the network, which has led to the now infamous crappy reception and poor coverage areas, particularly in certain US cities.

I firmly believe that if (when) the iPhone gets on some more carriers in the US, the iPhone experience will improve greatly, even if I don’t choose to leave AT&T at that point.

Just look at any of the other countries where the iPhone is offered on multiple carriers, and you can see that many of our US specific grudges would quickly go away if this long-term exclusivity were to end tomorrow.

There is one reason, however, why I’m glad Apple stuck it out with AT&T, and managed to use that exclusivity for at least one great advantage over every other phone available here in the US. And that’s Apple’s total control over what apps are preloaded and hard-coded into the device.

Sure, there are Apple apps that I can’t remove from my iPhone, like the calculator, or the mail app, but none of those are cheap crapware that’s trying to sell me something. There are no expiring 30-day trials, Blockbuster video apps, or other such nonsense taking up space and annoying me to no end.

Android fans love to talk about the nirvana of “open” software, but these sorts of ploys to nickel and dime users out of their minds are the reality of the real world of corporate culture. There’s nothing “open” about forcing users to carry around a copy of “Avatar” everywhere they go.

As long as there is money to be made, people in suits will always try to wrangle that money out of you. And Google has no control over what Verizon, T-Mobile, etc. put on these phones, because they have nothing to offer the carriers in return for that favor.

It would be one thing if Android phones were cheaper than the iPhone, thus justifying this diversion of attention. You paid less, after all, so it makes sense that you’d be subjected to ads and other ploys to take more money from you. But they are not. All the major phones on the market are similar in price.

So if this insistence on adding cheap crapware is the reason why the iPhone is still not on Verizon, than I have to say I’m happy to wait until Apple can make that happen.