How can AT&T be smart enough to offer a revolutionary device like the iPhone, which is all about delightful user experience, and yet let their own customer communications be a chilling reminder how little phone companies care about their users? There, in a nutshell, is the case for the unlocked iPhone. [From Q: what's The worst thing you can do with an iphone?]
AT&T doesn’t offer the iPhone, in the sense of having any input into it’s design. Apple did all that.
Remember, never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence.