&gt; To be fair, high-end nokia did already have &quot;open mobile internet&quot; available.<p>Not really sure this is relevant. Apple <i>forced</i> the carriers to change their business models -- first AT&amp;T and then the others; Nokia et al just played along. I was really disappointed that Google did not persevere with selling their own phone -- there was this shining moment where it looked like Apple and Google would unite to tear down the carriers; I think Google&#x27;s shying away from customer service may well prove pivotal -- e.g. it&#x27;s going to be hard to sell cars if you don&#x27;t do customer service.<p>People often point out that Apple doesn&#x27;t really understand the cloud or that Amazon&#x27;s forays into hardware have been at best mixed. Maybe. Google -- alone of its rivals -- doesn&#x27;t understand end-users (its customers are advertisers). Which is more important in the long run? (Bezos may suck as a boss, but Amazon&#x27;s customer service is first-rate.)