Yeah, and that's the problem. The moment Samsung says no to Verizon, Verizon will simply stop the deal and ask HTC. And the same is true for Apple or closed OS too: most normal people still don't know pros and cons of the specific OSes. The Android looks close enough to the iOS that I don't think many will care. So if Apple starts being a bit too picky, the provider will just snob them.
That's actually what happened to Nokia in the European market: They refused to brand their phones the way the carriers wanted and the carriers simply stopped selling subsidized Nokia devices.
