[MrChainsaw]

I don't know exactly, but i'm sure it has to do with profit. Why else does any business do anything it does? TO MAKE MONEY. There are lots of things that fall into that, probably millions of things I wouldn't even think about, but for one reason or another, I'm sure they are protecting their profits. Surely, it costs less per unit to buy from HTC to remove the more expensive technology. Less money spent to HTC means more money gained on the sale of the handset to the customer OR a lower price to charge to the customer so that people don't scream about how expensive all the phones are, etc...
Like I said, I don't know each decision that is made, but I know what drives it!

Other example from back in the day with the RAZR, I had a version of Motorola phone tools that allowed me to put my own home-made ringtones on my Sprint RAZR, and when I hooked up my friends Verizon one to do the exact same thing....it was locked down and couldn't even use the MANUFACTURER'S SOFTWARE!!! Why??? So you had to BUY their ringtones!!! Its stuff like that that will answer your question. Do they do it so piss us off? No. Are they trying to optimize their profits one way or another? DEF.