The US carriers should do the same thing, month to month terms and non-subsidized phones. This would do two things:
Prevent the lock down crap that Verizon and others do.
Make people pay more attention to what phone they are getting.
If you have to pay 300+ for a relatively simple phone, you will expect a better user experience and higher quality hardware. Manufacturers will be required to TEST the damn things and make sure all their "features" are actually good ones!
There would be a lot less waste as well, people would keep their phones longer just so they wouldn't have to burn more cash, and they'd treat them better as well.