26 minutes into the Verge CES 2012 SuperSession video

Nilay Patel-“Who owns the customer relationship when you guys sit down and hash out a phone? It’s you (OEM), it’s the platform provider, it’s the carrier.”

Drew Bamford (HTC)-“Thats just the fact of life in the mobile business right? Everybody owns the customer who wants to own the customer and so there is a fine balance.”

Joshua Topolsky-“Fun for the customer isn’t it, four or five different entities want to own you.”

Aaron Woodman (Microsoft)-“Whats funny about that question is that if you asked a customer most of them would say, at least in the US they would say their mobile operator.”

This just makes John Gruber’s point so much more poetic

Apple: Here is our new phone. It comes in black or white. We will let you sell it.

Apples controls the entire experience with its iPhone customers and no other smartphone OEMs, OS vendors, or carriers can make that claim. They sell the phone, provide support, provide updates, and curate the ecosystem. Maybe its not a coincidence that Apple is making the most money.