If you want to see the future of mobile you should not look at the USA but Japan, Malaysia, Europe, etc. The iPhone has been a good catch up for the USA but even that is less restricted outside the USA.
The iPhone is a much better model of what Americans want now (and possibly what the Japanese will want in 5 years) than the feature packed phones they have.
I don't think I would have bought the iPhone without the unlimited data and free wifi, as I use it mainly as a portable browser.
The US seriously needs to catch up in terms of pricing plans, data, etc.
According to wikipedia:
Even i-mode's creator, Takeshi Natsuno, has stated "I believe the iPhone is closer to the mobile phone of the future, compared with the latest Japanese mobile phones."