@Daniel, @Brent Gardner
"iPhone users represent a demographic, about whom, we could all probably make some fairly broad (but reasonably accurate) assumptions"
I'm an iPhone user but I'm not sure I would fit into your neat little world. Its a shame you've not expanded either on the demographic or the assumotions.
FYI I needed a phone with good multi-account email capabilities and a decent browser. I don't care that the device is locked to O2, I have a business contract. I don't care that the device isn't open. I don't care about the camera - I have a real camera for taking photos. As a software engineer I find the UI exceptionally good with one exception, most apps don't respond to tilting into landscape. And notes needs to synchronise with something to actually be useful.
As for dropping the iPhone specific stuff, I agree with the other sentiments expressed here, don't build device-specific sites. And lets face it, everything Google produces is in beta for years, plenty of opportunity to drop stuff whenever it feels like it.
Brient - I think Google is already bad, tweaking search results and hoodwinking advertisers. Yes I use the search engine, but that's about it.