For a major carrier, this is quite embarrassing. You wouldn't see ANY major carrier anywhere doing this.
True enough. With our penchant for lawsuits, any 'actual product' deviation from what was shown on the preorder page, despite small print caveats, could be grounds for legal action, and in addition to cancelled preorders and major embarassment, as well as the wrath of Apple, that could get very expensive for any US carrier who dared any such preorder page.