apps..
Rooting is a sinch, thanks to the dev's that pump countless hours into letting us be able to administar our devices as we see fit
Once rooted, you can remove any application you like, and you do not HAVE to have a custom ROM to remove bloatware, just some Linux know-how (or be able to read and follow instructions)
And you have to have root access to put on a custom mod, but you dont have to have a custom ROM to root...