I think that =X= was referring to the rather negative publicity that Apple received over their in-app purchase policy a while back. I don't really know how Amazon/Kobo/etc. resolved the issue, just that they have.

As per the no-SD card bit, that isn't really locking people into a particular vendor's cloud. There are any number of remote storage solutions available. I have a file manager that supports Box, SugarSync, DropBox, SkyDrive, and GDrive. I have also used Ubuntu One in the past. Not only does Google allow third party solutions in their store, but other app developers support them as well. You also have access to SMB and FTP if you want to bypass the cloud and access data on your own computers (with a little technical know how, you can even access your own network on the road). That being said, Google does make a concerted effort to place their own services front and centre.

The most cynical view that I have of the SD card situation is this: it is primarily used as a tool for planned obsolescence, and to discourage people from buying a lower end model and upping the internal storage. Of course, there are also issues with SD cards that would drive up the cost of the device. A big one will be support costs, from users who don't know how to use SD cards or use them improperly