Android doesn't give you as much choice as the author implies. OS updates are handled by the carrier/handset maker so you don't really have much choice there. I'm stuck on 1.5 with no options to upgrade unless I want to root the device, install a third party ROM, and unfortunately lose GPS & Camera functionality because there are no drives to make them work in 2.x yet. The OS update I get from my carrier may or may not include multi-touch support in the third party apps. This is a choice the carrier/handset maker impose on me. They will also bundle carrier specific applications that I have no choice in. For Sprint, with the HTC Hero, I cannot remove these applications without rooting the phone. (I can delete the shortcut and pretend they're not there but I can't remove the binaries) I can't do wifi tethering on Android without rooting the device because Google blocks those apps in the Android Market. Android presently offers more choice by default but still imposes a lot of restrictions. So if we're ultimately comparing Android and iPhone on the basis of needing to jailbreak/root the devices there isn't a whole lot of difference.