Drillbit:
Computers are not MP3 players are not smartphones. When you're making a touchscreen-focused OS, you don't need umpteen different models because you won't get much different functionality. It would be folly for Apple to release a new model every three months, because you'd be getting only a mildly different experience: a bit cheaper for one model, a little bit faster for another. I don't see Apple going with a hardware QWERTY keyboard model, either, since it would have a relatively negligible benefit.
Carrier choices we know are changing. Verizon, and possibly Sprint, seem increasingly likely for the fall. I think we can safely say Apple wants extra carriers in the US now that Android is a concern, and a CDMA iPhone would mean KDDI, too. And given that the iPhone 4 now has the 800MHz 3G band, it sounds very likely that NTT DoCoMo will follow.
No. Just no. This has nothing to do with hardware requirements. Right now, you can own a Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 -- a phone with a 1GHz Snapdragon like the Evo 4G -- but can't even think of running Twitter or other apps because it's still stuck on Android 1.6 and won't have 2.1 (let alone 2.2) until late this year. Samsung Behold II and Galaxy owners will never get upgrades to 2.x builds, even though both use reasonably fast processors and were released a year ago or less. How soon do you think you'll get Android 2.2 or 3.0 on an Evo 4G?
And that's the problem: even with the steps to try and solve Android's fragmentation, you're faced with the very real possibility that your ultimate, speed-demon smartphone can't run OS features and apps released just a few months later. Apple might lack variety, but you won't get a rude surprise and find out you can't run app X until six months from now.
Don't know what software you're using, but iTunes is simple if you want it to be. Android's Google sync is great, but woe be to you if you have info on your computer that you want to get on to the phone, or vice versa! It's not the hardest thing to do, but explaining to someone that they need to mount the phone as USB storage, find the music folders on their computer, drag the files over into this part of your SD card and eject isn't exactly my idea of a good time. Most of the complexity comes from wanting to get precise control over music playlists, podcast updates, and exact app management. You can't really claim Android has an advantage here when it doesn't even have the option unless you know to find a third-party utility like doubleTwist or Missing Sync (neither of which is as capable as iTunes in most areas).
Most Android phones are good, but catering to the hardcore doesn't necessarily make you better; if anything, it puts a ceiling on where you can go. I don't want the experience completely watered down, but I don't think the iPhone is facing that danger yet. Basic Android phones like the Cliq or Devour have so far actually fared worse, so don't think it's just a matter of price or slapping on a custom UI, either.
