What you have said above has some validity - in the past.

However i think that if you look at product launches over the last 10 - 12 months you will find that USC, Sprint and VZW are launching the same phones virtually at the same time. The exceptions are exclusivly licensed devices for a certain carrier which tend to last 3 - 4 months to gain the "edge" on the competition. Larger carriers like VZW and AT&T are well known for doing this, because they have the funds to do so.

HOwever devices like the Samsung Galaxy, Tab, HTC Desire, Merge, Pro7, BlackBerry 9850, Curve 3 etc.

Also please be sure you are comparing Apples to Apples... VZW/Sprint/USC/Metro are all CDMA/LTE carriers. You can't compare GSM handset launches to CDMA as they are often very different phones.

Speaking of Apples... as far as the iPhone goes, that is under Apple's control.

Also, for arguments sake the big 4 talk about LTE and 4G all the time.

1. Most don't have LTE rolled out in 50% of their markets (USC included)

2. True 4G speeds won't be reached for many many years. The definition of 4G as set by the CTIA is 100MBps. Current Carrier "4G" is only about 12. I'd say we have a long way to go. There are several articles on this if you Google it.

However the majority of the general public are oblivious to this and the wireless companies are taking advantage of that and using it as a marketing tool.

Hope this helps!