Pay as you go smartphones? Why not us?

As someone who does not like cell phone contracts, I feel those cell phone companies (At&t mostly) should provide pay as you go smart phones such as BlackBerry or iPhones to their customers who do not wish to sign their years away. Why should we have to sign a multi year contract to have the latest technology? Why do they think we only want crappy phones that can only call but with no bluetooth support or 3G or edge technology?