That's good and bad. Its good as a whole, but when you're talking about the hard-core tech heads, it means that the greatest thing will be outdated in a month. Its something you just have to learn to deal with.In contrast, I think having so many different phones is what's great about Android. They have phones for various level users and at different price points for people who can't afford to drop $800 for a phone or even $200 on contract for a phone. They are constantly keeping up with what consumers want.
I've an iPhone and and a Blackberry and don't get me wrong I think they are all great depending on what your needs are but just very slow at keeping up to speed. Blackberry is super outdated and Apple got some confortable with having a revolutionary phone when the iPhone was first released and everybody jumped on that now the yearly generation updates are minimal. While they are just getting tethering and multitasking, I had that on my Android months ago.
The iPhone has always had multitasking, it just hasn't been extended to 3rd party apps.
Tethering has also been available since last June.
Part of the blame for the slow uptake has to do with both the network and the available resources for the phone's tech. Until Apple bought Intrinsity, they couldn't build a chip to their specs. Now that they can, they're more comfortable with things like multi-tasking since they control the chip power usage and can tailor it directly to their needs.
Tethering and some other features are a direct result of the AT&T partnership. Now that that's over, they won't be as constrained.
I think it just all comes down to doing your homework on rumored phones and deciding which one you want to go for. What rumored specs really catch your eye. If dual core is what you want then look at the Bionic or the Atrix. In my opinion I hate Blur and Motorola so they aren't even options for me. Now when HTC drops a dual core I might jump on it. You also have to consider which contract is going to be best for you knowing that technology changes quickly: 1yr, 2yr, retail?