I agree to what you are saying but its not the same case with iPhone and even the service providers dont have the settings for iPhone as i have myself faced it. Even Apple hasn't incorporated the settings for all the providers but Airtel and Vodafone has been incorporated into their software because it is officially launched in India. After putting a sim when you check which network you are in(inside settings and then About) then for Airtel and Vodafone it shows their respective names but for others it shows Carrier x.0(x depends upon the version of software you are using in your iPhone). Apple has indeed made a very complicated thing.
mine is reliance gsm
The automatic settings come up only in lower end phones and phones like Nikia. I have iPhone from vodafone, the apn default is iPhone but I use www. Also with htc magic the setting don't come up automatically. I have the new sim card from vodafone. Mtnl also the setting on iPhone does not come up automatically.
