Pay for updates?
You want to be charged extra for something that's most likely already factored into the purchase price of the device anyway? Hmmmm....
Over 6 years ago, Apple started accounting for their free iOS updates in the price of the device, to abide by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002:
http://appleinsider.com/articles/09/10/21/inside_apples_iphone_subscription_accounting_changes
No doubt other device manufacturers do the same too as they'd be bound by the same rules in the US.
What delays Android updates isn't the availability of the Android OS, it's porting it to all the hardware variations, updating the proprietary manufacturer 'skins' and apps, and then, if bought from a carrier, their bloatware too. By the time all that is done, they'd rather you just buy the latest Android device with last years OS already on it.
Even the lowly iPhone 4s (released way back in October 2011) can run the forthcoming iOS 9.3 (albeit without a few hardware related features and some inevitable slowdown).
It's pretty obvious what the solution to receiving "official, timely updates" without needing to "hack around with custom roms" is...
Biting the hand that feeds IT
