I think Verizon is making a mistake getting so caught up with the iPhone. Android is in more direct competition with Nokia, RIM, Microsoft and Palm competing across multiple carriers. Apple is still a relatively smaller player in mobiles but has traditionally strong brand/customer loyalty. I'm not sure the average iPhone owner cares much about the technical differences/limitations. There's probably a much lower barrier of entry to Android for someone who isn't hung up on iTunes syncing for example.