Unlikely - Microsoft's strategy is to fragment every market it can't control and prevent commoditization of the platform layer. The inclusion of a broken IE was probably deliberate.
maybe it's time we developers stood up and said "no".
Let's stand together and declare that "working mobile web" just isn't a feature of WP7. If you want the cool bling of todays mobile web, you'll have to get any other phone aside of WP7. Any will do. Just not WP7.
What I was thinking was to not do it this time around. Now if your customer insists, explain the issue and add the IE tax (I'd say an additional 80% of what you'd charge for the real-browser-only version). If your employer insists, well, then you don't have too many options of course.
This is an extremely naive perspective, but one you often hear from a certain type of crowd.
Really it's not about quote/unquote preventing this specific layer. It is about preventing commoditization of where profit/revenue is derived. And every company does it.
Try to commodotize mobile apps and the app store and see what Apple does. Try to have an open ad market where all revenue goes to non-profits, and see what Google does.
And frankly the reaction from all of these companies should be to show they can accelerate faster than the commodotized market. When MS does it, it's called embrace and extend. When Apple does it, its called "we've patented all over this thing and its the next great thing" and you wait in line for 48 hours to buy it.