So, first of all - thanks for your detailed comments.
Secondly - this wasn't intended to be a rant solely about Apple and their products. I'm not one of their customers, so please forgive my inaccuracies.
On your other points, while most DVD players were region locked they aren't any more. Because of the consumer backlash against discriminatory pricing and regional content deals it's now almost impossible to find a DVD player which is locked down.
You're quite right about the DRM being foisted on us mostly by content producers.
(Ninja edit - made this comment on Hacker News, not here)
Regarding iTunes or Android being forced or required to do anything - that's not really what I want. What I'd like is if there was a published specification for storing a music library. Then, any device could implement it. You could store your music on your Xbox and push it to your iPhone - or in iTunes and push it to your Windows Phone.
It's the difference between email and IM. Email "just works" on every device because it's a standard. Google Talk is incompatible with iMessage and Skype and Whatsapp and BBM. They could all use the same or similar protocols. They could all work together but, instead, their users are locked in to one platform. If all your buddies are on BlackBerry, you have to buy one in order to use BBM.
Re the SIM card - I'm not sure what it's like in your part of the world, but every phone I've had in the last ten years will take a SIM from any provider. Even when I've taken my European phones to the USA they've worked fine with T-Mobile SIMs.
Thanks for your comments.