Lest we forget we're dealing with 3 for-profit corporations here - Verizon, Google, Motorola - whose #1 goal is to increase value for shareholders - that's every corporation’s #1 goal, and it should be. The execs that control the money could not care less (or very very little) about a hacking community that has very little effect on their bottom line. It's easy to feel like the Droid world we live in is the norm, because most of us live on this forum. But that's simply not the case, at all.
I believe the Droid was a "loss leader", per se, for lack of a better term. Motorola needed it to resurrect themselves. Verizon needed it to compete with the "imania". Google needed it to bring Android mainstream. Verizon's marketing blitz (which was harder than the purple people eaters!) was extremely successful. The Droid is a solid piece of hardware. And Android has attracted a lot of people and carriers because of it's flexibility (and I'm not talking hacking here, I'm talking simple customization). It was the perfect storm, and it worked like a charm.
Now, all 3 corporations are in a completely different position than they were a year ago. Verizon now has a much larger presence in the smartphone market, Motorola is back in good standing and making solid products again, and Android is more of a household name (at least more than it was a year ago), and continuing to grow fast.
Here's why I think that Verizon/Moto/Google want things to be more locked down, and have every right to do so.
Verizon – it's their data, and their customer service is the frontman for any problems. Despite their claims, their 3g network is still limited, and will be affected by having more smartphone users in their system. They want to control their data to keep it running as smoothly as possible for as many customers as possible. Hence, tethering breaks the TOS, and you have to pay for it on the new phones where they allow it. Any time one of their phones have a problem, they’re the first to receive the call – and despite the loads of instructions, people still screw their phones up when they root and flash custom roms, leaks, whatever.
Motorola – they make the hardware. Hacking affects the hardware – especially overclocking (yes I know the arguments here).
Google – They want Android to be mainstream. They want devs to look at developing on Android first. The more hacking there is, the more piracy there is. The more hacking there is, the more little problems occur that might not occur otherwise (FC’s, incompatibilities, etc.). They want Android to be a smooth sailing process from dev to end user.
Open source has little to do with hacking. Do I love being able to root (and flash custom roms, etc) my phone for full control? Yes. Are a majority of users willing to take the time to read up before they do this? No. Does that mean more problems? Yes. Does that cost these companies money? Yes.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pleased about this either. But I’m not going to act like they owe it to us at all – we’re not the majority of users, and we have little affect on their bottom line – and that’s the bottom line (sorry, couldn't resist the pun).
