That's totally untrue. You could make the case that anyone buying a prepaid phone like the Motorola Triumph, Straight Talk Nokia e71, or LG Optimus is buying an unsubsidized phone, but these phones are still locked to a carrier in some way. I guess because of this, the phone might cost less with a Virgin Mobile logo on it than if you bought it straight-up retail. But, it doesn't take a genius to figure out a $300 Virgin Mobile phone with $35/month plan is a much better value in the long run than a free iPhone 3GS with $100/month plan over 2 years. I don't know about where you are, but the acceptance of these 2nd-tier carriers like Virgin, Metro PCS, Boost, etc is really blowing up.

Also, Apple sells unlocked iPhone in the US. Best Buy even has a section of their retail stores dedicated to unlocked GSM phones. I don't think those two would bother if nobody was buying them. Over the past year, I've purchased at least 5 unlocked phones for myself. I'm considering buying an iPhone 4S, but it would only be unlocked/unsubsidized. I'd probably stick it on H2O's $60 unlimited plan.