From the HN Discussion, by paxys:

I don't think people realize that the US is the only market in the world where phones are carrier locked, and in fact the only market where carriers have so much power over the features and overall experience of your phone. Mobile carriers dictate that a phone has to be sold with a locked bootloader. They decide if/when the phone should get OS updates. They are the ones who fill the phone with bloatware. Up until a few years ago the phone had a more prominent logo of the cell carrier than the company that actually made it.

US carriers have used their government-granted monopolies to influence the market wayy beyond phone calls and data plans, and it's about time it should end.

That's why it sounds weird for the rest of the World.