@LKM
I think you've got a good point about testing and alpha/beta releases.

@Brian Erdelyi
"I also believe this will enable Apple to further lock down the iPhone and prevent unlocking while forcing us to use particular carriers (a practice which I believe is illegal in some parts of Europe)."
Yes, this is illegal in France (where I live). You cannot force people to buy two products at once, i.e. in our case an iPhone and a monthly GSM plan. You must allow people to buy them separately. For the iPhone it means an unlocked iPhoned at 750€, an iPhone on the Orange network with no plan at 650€, and an iPhone with a two year Orange plan at 399€ (+ the price of the plan).
Normally for the same reason it should be possible to buy a PC with no operating system (Windows...), but the consumers associations are having a hard time trying to enforce this. When I buy a PC I get a license for Windows in a sealed enveloppe. If I refuse the license I should get a refund of the Windows OS (while keeping the PC). But this refund is impossible to get, and actually it is impossible to know the price of Windows on top of the hardware's price in the first place.