There are this many reports because it's popular. Over on GDGT, the like/dislike ratio is at 177:5. The iPhone 3GS is at 143:9. And these are people who are likely to be more technically oriented than the average person. Given, far more people have the 3GS, but's it's been out quite a bit longer.

IMO, the issue-dealing is a side-effect of the fact that it's being sold by the manufacturer rather than the phone company. Should they have had a better system in place? Yeah, but basically no one in the US has done this before. In order to get a phone that is not tied down, I'm happy to deal with it. That said, I have not had any particular problems, and many people may not have the same ideological bent about it that I do. That said, I'm not aware of Apple being wildly active about fixing software bugs in the iPhone. Maybe I'm wrong.