Samsung's Rugby Pro Earns Its Jelly Bean Stripes

Bottom line is that it costs money to upgrade the firmware of a phone, first the cost of creating the new firmware itself, then the cost of the testing, the cost of the modifications they have to make to the firnware to customize it and all the carrierware, the cost of training the Tech Support staff to learn the new firmware, then the cost of the roll out itself. It can costs the carrier several million dollars.

Carriers are only going to commit to an update if they think that they will see a return on their investment, if they are not convinced that they will, then they will not send it out....

For that reason, I think it would really be best if carriers just left the software in control of the OEM's and stuck with focusing on the network...

But as long as we have a system where the vast majority of people get their phones from their carrier this problem is going to persist.