Really... you think everything will work great and all 3rd party developers will get all their apps to work on ALL devices as soon as Verizon gets their tiered data pricing in place... LOL!!!!
I do understand that Verizon doesn't control other apps, but they definitely had plans to put Skype on the Thunderbolt prior to it coming out... and the launch of the Tbolt was definitely delayed for some time... then Verizon had to finally put little stickers over the Skype symbols on all their Tbolt launch posters... and now a number of months later we all are still waiting... so why don't we have Skype yet??? Verizon now just continue to blame it on the developers.
No, not all 3rd party developers, of course, but the big branded data-intensive software like Skype and Netflix will be running fine by that point. Take a look at the Skype website and you will see that it is clearly a collaboration with Verizon.
We know that Skype video chat is already working on the ThunderBolt. Skype video chat was indeed delayed, but Verizon obviously decided to launch wihout it, but it was a big part of their premarketing. I'm certain they had a lot of commercials set to air with the release of the ThunderBolt that woud have highlighted the coolness of video calls on 4G. We won't see those commercials, but we'll see similar ones that do not focus on the ThunderBolt but on all their 4G phones. The launch of the ThunderBolt was obviously scaled back.
We also now know that Netflix can work on a ThunderBolt with Gingerbread, which Verizon is scheduled to deliver to the ThunderBolt just in time for tiered data. I can't really speak to other major branded datacentric software, but I would expect that Verizon is collaborating with developers where it sees good opportunities for ROI. An exception may be Comcast, which competes intensely with Verizon Fios. HBO Go is a start, but the rest of Comcast's programming may not roll out as quickly.
As for the reasons for the 'delay' of the ThunderBolt, it was not because of the delay of Skype video. Verizon announced that Skype video chat was delayed and the launch of the ThunderBolt went ahead, not quite as planned, but it was still released a couple of weeks after the 2/28 Skype delayed target was missed. From what we know and other rather reliable sources, it seems the delay was mostly because of kinks in the 4G network still being worked out. Lots of resources had been devoted to strengthening traditional 3G to prepare for the launch of the CDMA iPhone. I'm sure so many new iPhone users put additional stress on the network and work on tweaking and building 4G suffered. That was the major reason, but there were also minor timing issues around other devices.