Sean HRCC, I read your response, and you have a valid point, but if someone spends there hard earn money for a product it's theirs to do what they want. If you were to buy a house or a car and told what you could or couldn't do with it, after working hard for it, you would be pissed. It wouldn't sound democratic. I would be highly interested in knowing the number of people that jailbreak their phone so they can enjoy the liberal freedom of having their phone set up the way they choose.
But that's just it! You CAN'T do whatever you want with your car or with your home in the real world, because there are regulations, restrictions, laws and rules that have to be followed...all in all, the iPhone is a MORE "liberal" (as you put it) item than either of those two things.
Cars can be modified, houses can be modified, iPhone's can be modified...but ALL of these things require changes to the core function and build of the product...and 9 times out of 10, the original manufacturer of said product would absolutely SCOFF at the idea of doing what people do to the product, because at the end of the day, the product was made with finesse, care and diligent research/development...and it fits the vast majority of consumer needs in native form. How is Apple any different than any other company on the market just because they don't give you free reign to their product in terms of CHANGING IT? They don't WANT you to change it! They WANT you to enjoy the product they created to work optimally for you!
And if that is not enough for you...then you have to make that choice whether to modify it or not. You aren't being held hostage at all...you're actually given a very clear choice, and Apple doesn't even punish you for this by voiding your warranty! They just ask that if you have a problem down the road, remove the modifications you've done so they can make sure it is indeed the hardware that is the problem, and not something you've done yourself through modification. This can be applied to almost ANY product on the market from ANY company!
You're not entitled to anything buddy...you need to get that through your head. You're also not being prevented from doing what you want in this regard, so why cry about it like you're being caned for even thinking about customizing the iPhone?
And give me a break about spending "hard earned money" and deserving to do whatever you want with the product you bought. How old are you? You sound like a 18 year old who just tasted the real world and complains that the world isn't bending over backwards to make YOU happy.