I think the operators should stay focused on what they do the best - building and updating infrastructure. It shouldn't be their job to provide the marketing for device, service or even apps. However, since they are the owners of this massive usage data, they can comprehend in a most accurate way what is the customer like and what does it want. They have the best metrics to measure how the customer responds to marketing, etc. But bottom line is that I just want my phone to work. I don't care what network it runs, I want it to WORK. I don't want to pay less for something that doesn't work (surprise surprise Lycamobile doesn't cater 3G for iPhone 4S). I don't want to pay for ridiculous unlimited 100000 minutes and 100000000 texts per month. However, I do want to pay for 1 Gb monthly data, and a sensible amount for 5 calls I make per month (heh, try that - O2 PAYG single call or text price is close to the european roaming charges...) And the last thing I want to pay is extra charges for using VoIP (TeliaSonera). So for me, operators are not on my side. I am always in lose-lose situation.