iPhone Hacker

According to the story, a kid spent 500 hours figuring out how to unlock the iPhone so that it was not just compatible with AT&T services. While I think that, financially, it was smart for AT&T to have a monopoly over the product line, I wonder if Apple wouldn't have been better off marketing their new product to all of the service providers (or at least the mainstream ones like Verizon, T Mobile, and Sprint). AT&T must have put forth a LOT of money to accomplish that.
As for the kid in question, I think that it makes sense to try and use an iPhone with a different service provider, but I don't know that it's worth giving up an entire summer when you're not 100% positive that your goal is attainable.