No they are not, its just a simple marketing ploy

Haven't u heard the more u restrict, the more curious people will become?

Throw in the capable hardware but restrict on the software, developers crack open bit by bit everyday, people get fresh new stuff that are supposed to be available at the beginning.

Because MMS isn't widely used in the States, they are more to Emailing each other. Copy and paste? Well that depends on some users, for me, i never use that, so it isn't really a disadvantage.

What's basic function to u may not be basic function to them.

One thing about Apple is, they WILL put things they WANTED to put in, they are not like HTC which deliberately leave out some things as to cut cost.

And iPhones are tied to contract because some of the functions like web surfing and GPS relies heavily on data connection. Apple advertise the iPhone as an excellent internet surfing portable device, u wouldnt want to be surfing around without an unlimited data package