Put down the pitchforks, people. This is NOT what some of you are making it out to be. Google is not trying to discourage enthusiasts or stifle innovation. They want to see Android grow and evolve, and they understand that the community at large will be a very important part of that. This is why Android is an open source project in the first place. Google is simply trying to protect their own brand. The Google apps that are NOT open source really have no business being part of a re-distributed open source platform, anyway. Google wants to maintain control over how their apps are distributed, which is completely understandable. They need to protect their brand from association to unofficial (and there, not verifiably safe) builds of the Android platform. Can you imagine the PR nightmare that would ensue if it was found out that one of the modded Android builds was using GMail to turn phones into mobile spambots, or using Maps to spy on people and track their locations without them knowing it?

Google just wants to protect their brand by making sure their apps only appear on Android builds that they have approved. While there is always the danger of apps or modifications after the fact that might compromise *any* build of Android, at least Google can stand by the original builds that their apps appear on, which is the most control they can hope to have over the situation.

@Mike Fletcher
Two things:
1) It's actually NOT common practice for carriers to charge for calls to your VM. I was with T-Mobile for 2 years and calls to VM were ALWAYS free. I've recently switched to Sprint for the SERO plan, and I'm pretty sure (though I admit, I'm not certain--I'm checking my account later) that I'm not charged to check VM here, either.
2) Even if we concede that checking VM might cost you minutes, you still get to CHOOSE whether you are going to check that message or not. You get to make the decision to incur those charges. Hey, you could wait until after 9pm (or earlier depending) when your minutes are free, and then check the message. The point is, you have a choice as to whether you are going to use those minutes; it is in your control. If someone sends you a text message, you are charged for it. Period. You get no choice in the matter. Sure, you could ask people to stop sending them and opt out of messaging services and what have you, but you still had to pay for unwanted messages in the first place. Sure, we probably aren't talking about a whole lot of money here, but we are already nickel and dimed to death at every corner. On principal, this is scummy practice.

It's not about being able to turn off SMS. It's about the fact that you can't choose not to receive unsolicited messages without automatically being charged for them. It shouldn't be an all-or-nothing deal. Maybe you want to use SMS, but you don't want to receive 50 joke of the day forwards from random people who just happen to have your cell phone number. If someone calls you, you can choose not to answer and avoid being charged for the call. You don't have to turn off your phone service to avoid this. You shouldn't have to turn off SMS, either. Since the carriers charge for incoming messages, you should be able to choose not to receive messages that you don't want, without having to turn off the entire service.

@Albert: Actually, I don't think most people's concerns about bulk have to do with making and receiving calls, and more with carrying convenience. The appeal of the RAZR was that it was one of the first phones you could easily carry in a pants or shirt pocket. It was certainly the reason I purchased one; I don't like holsters or clip-on carry cases, and I'd prefer not have an unsightly bulge in whatever pocket my phone is in. As much as I've been eyeing some of the PDA phones out there, I just haven't been able to come to grips with the size of them. This might be purely superficial to some, but it's a very important purchasing factor for many, especially for men who don't have purses to keep their Treo or Blackberry in.