This has been a problem in the (US) wireless industry for a very long time, long before Android. OEMs have always been more than happy to make 4 variations of t

This has been a problem in the (US) wireless industry for a very long time, long before Android. OEMs have always been more than happy to make 4 variations of the same phone for 4 carriers with 4 different names; putting Android on everything simply makes the problem that much more obvious. HTC was the worst offender for a time, even forgoing their own branding for the carrier's. It'd help the situation much if OEMs simply made ~4 models (not counting radio configs) every year, and stuck with them across carriers. Moto, for instance, would have: * RAZR (flagship) * Milestone Pro (keyboard) * Milestone X (mid-range) * Defy ("free" phone) on every carrier, and that would be that.