It's really quite funny: mobile operators are deadly scared of becoming little more than "dumb (radio) pipes" for data, yet every single move they do is so wrong on so many level it only ends up with more customers using them solely as dumb data pipes.
I disagree, at least regarding this move. Carriers know the tendency is inevitable, and they have no interest competing with free. They're doing this to milk it while it lasts, and then they'll gladly let Apple pay for the messaging service while they charge for the data. You're still tied to them anyway.
I'm reminded of this every time I leave a voicemail and have to listen to the lengthy instructions on how to use it -- not to be informative, but to up your talk time.
