The history of mobiles in the US makes the market very different from Europe, where GSM has become more standardized. In some European countries, subsidizing phone prices and tying the phone to a specific provider is illegal. In the US, that practice is commonplace.
US mobile providers give customers a deeply discounted phone after they sign an extended contract, and enforce the contract by locking the phone hardware to only work with their own network. After a certain period, most mobile providers will unlock the phone from their network, and phones may also be unlocked by third parties who have access to the codes to do this.
This vendor lock exists to tie the heavily subsidized phone to the mobile provider who offered the rebate incentive.
However, the iPhone isn’t tied to AT&T for the same reason, because AT&T doesn’t provide iPhone subscribers with an upfront rebate as an incentive to sign a contract.
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