U.S. Cellular has 2 high end devices. Samsung Mesmerize and HTC Desire. Granted they did release the Desire before anyone in the US, but the phone was going on a year old in Europe. Yes they did release the Torch in a timely manner, but BB is dying, really fast. When you compare their smartphone lineup to any national carrier it still has a long way to go! Now I know they are releasing the Motorola Electrify, Desire 2, and a few other high end phones soon, but this should've been done a long time ago.
#2 To say "Who cares?" about the national carrier thing makes no sense. Who wants to go on vacation have a problem with their phone and not be able to go to a store in the local area because there is no store? Oh PS The 50% rule is DATA and Voice.
#3 If the iPhone didn't help VZW attract new customers why were they nipping at Apple's heels trying to get it? iPhone 4 is over a year old and is still the fastest selling handset in the world even with iPhone 5 coming out this fall. To dismiss the fact that USCC would benefit from adding this phone to their lineup makes no sense.
I agree with you about adding more new coverage, but if you are losing customers hand over fist in areas you already have service in you may want to plug that hole first. It costs a lot less money to keep customers than to add new ones.