Motorola Tells Customer to “Buy Elsewhere” if They Want Custom ROMs

[UNC]

only thing i have to say about this: how is this a strategy? and how has it worked for them? they would lose nothing by allowing us to use custom roms. absolutely nothing, but they would gain a couple thousand more sales..

i'm not surprised they said this, but its stupid and it wouldnt hurt them to let us to root (and they would get my purchase to,, instead some htc or samsung phone will get it)

What's up with the HTC love... the G2 had basically a "self-sbf" system that detects if you have done anything to the phone and resets it. Sure there is a work-around, but you know they are trying to lock their phones down too... I won't be surprised if the "thunderbolt" is locked down.

I agree with the other poster... If you really want to be mad about the locked bootloaders, be mad at all the people who defrauded Verizon/Moto/Insurion by bricking their phones and claiming insurance/warranty.... there are literally dozens on this website that basically boast about cheating insurion or VZW.

I also would think that the wireless carriers are partially behind this. Motorola has contracts with these providers, and I imagine they are not very happy about the free wireless tether that most of them charge for.....

What are the iPhone haters going to do when its the only phone that can be hacked? LOL

 

[1linuxfreak]

Motorola might be careful what they wish for. LG , HTC and Samsung are looking good , I really wanted a Atrix type phone on VZW when it arrives, but might reconsider now. The back peddling doesn't undo the damage but I hope Motorola keeps its devices open and customizable .
My $.02

 

[bazar6]

Forget this…*If the Bionic is locked down worse than the X, then I'm going to the iPhone 4, and throwing Android on it…*complete customization.

 

[mrksbrd]

Quick change of heart.... someone must have had a bad day

Motorola apologizes for YouTube comment, says it's working on bootloader compromise | Android Central

 

[valetudo025]

Don't laugh too hard at what I'm about to say...

I actually think one of the more interesting developments in the tech scene is (get ready...) Windows Phone 7.

Seriously, think about it... back before the iPhone the most customizable and open platform was Windows Mobile. The hardware and software blew hot chunks but there were people making crazy apps for it back in the day. Microsoft didn't give a *Censored* about what you did with it. I don't know what the state it's in now other than it being just about dead, but I really think it could be interesting as far as having potential for truly open development. The upcoming hardware will be on par with what's out there and even if it catches on a little bit it might blow up. Also, they don't exactly have a difficult road ahead as far as the business crowd goes.

Yes the chances are slim because they're SOOOOOO far behind, but if the hacker community is looking for a capable platform it could lure some talented people. And if they produce the "perfect storm" things could get VERY interesting.

I just don't think Moto should be so cocky. Geek Cred built this beast and they shouldn't bite the hand that pulled them from the flames.

Good Lord... I can't believe I have an open mind about WP7.



What? It COULD happen!

well said! i had a windoz phone, thats where I got started and I loved it back then!

 

[J5311]

but isn't that what made the first droid so successful in the first place? the ability to create your own rom? Motorola did great with the droid and literally saved the company. here we go with the corporate bull and they will throw everything away.... good job not giveing what the people want!

 

[ilikemoneygreen]

but isn't that what made the first droid so successful in the first place? the ability to create your own rom? Motorola did great with the droid and literally saved the company. here we go with the corporate bull and they will throw everything away.... good job not giveing what the people want!

The droid was successful for different reasons though...It was really the big bang that started Android 2.+ phones. Android catapaulted after this. I can say this, That most user really dont root, nor even know what that means.
Members: 162,741
Threads: 110,623
Posts: 1,175,337
Right now their is 163,000 member in this forum. Assuming all of them root and will take their buisness elsewhere; Using numbers from july, their was 10million Android phones. (rounded) Do you see where this is kind of a hard battle? And heck, lets be generous, 1,175,337 post... Lets say each post is a user, That is only 1/10 of total users of Android, and thats using numbers from july, its got to be way more than that now. Im not saying that motorola has all Androids Market share, nor am i saying that more that DF is the only site where people root, but put it into perspective.....we are like little ants in comparison. Giving the people what they want isnt exactly that simple, you have to play into showing them what they want. And thats what Motorola is trying to do, when the teen is getting a phone and plays with a nice polished display models they want them to choose Motorola. They hear our needs, like vanilla Andriod but i cant say truly that a majority of people want it plain.And im sure as for the security measures they put in place they think we are fire ants and we make them mad. lol. Interesting analogies but anyone get the drift here? I JUST DONT WANT NON-UNINSTALLABLE BLOAT-WARE, im completely droping the Vanilla android argument.

 

[azules9780]

You know but one thing I don't think any of us are taking into account right now, is how many people who aren't actually participating members on this or other forums but the root and try different roms etc.

My example is this: There has been an Android explosion at my FD. There are guys everywhere getting Android phones and I don't know one who has a stock phone. HOWEVER, there are only a few of us who are active and we try stuff and everyone else follows us with what's good, new information etc. I asked my LT what new phone he was getting and his exact words were " whatever Carlisle gets. He does all the research for me and shows me what to do etc. I just benefit from him." I personally have got a few guys in other FD's who I sit around and root their phones for them. Flash new stuff etc. They all typically fall in line with what I do.

I believe there are a lot more modified phones out there than what we take into account.

 

[52brandon]

wow. The Bionic was going to be my next phone, but I guess now I'll just "buy elsewhere"

 

[Amagine]

I'm a very heavy proponent of custom ROMs and modding, but I can see where Motorola is coming from. And from those saying "I'll just buy HTC/other brand" just wait and see; to remain competitive in the market they will likely follow suit at some point, probably sooner rather than later.

Why am I saying this? Because taking measures to ensure that only approved software is able to run is vitally important if Android devices want to compete with RIM/Blackberry devices in the corporate/government environment. And with RIM continuing to lose market share; I suspect this is EXACTLY what they are up to.

Right now, RIM still offers an attractive option to these markets simply because the devices are so locked down. In many ways, this is the ONLY real advantage to a RIM device. If Android devices were to prove themselves just as secure, if not more; then alot of big time customers might jump on the bandwagon, if for no other reason to not be reliant on a BES infrastructure. But none of this is going to happen unless manufacturers take these steps to lock things down.

It seems like the Droid 1 is basically the CDMA answer to the Nexus One as far as moddability goes, and I agree with CK; I truly believe it is a collectors item; if you will.

I beg to differ on blackberry devices being locked down. Apps are created in pretty much the same matter as android. Not to mention I was running leaked and hybrid os's for a while before I jumped to android. The main reason I jumped was the expandibility of the os. Not that it was any more open. The main reason it seems so "locked down" in rim land is everything going through rims servers, which is lately showing to be a HUGE falicy.
But I agree with most here. Im happy with what I can currently dowith my DX but in the future ill be looking more closely at htc and samsung.

 

[xCaldazar]

It isn't all that bad now that these new phones have so much power. It makes me very happy I got my D1, really an awesome phone, helped it not become outdated by being able to root it and put new higher clock speed kernels.

 

[cideas]

guess I'll be keeping my Droid 1 for a while

 

[Adrozz07]

This story needs an update.

There is hope. Sometimes a little defiance can pluck the human nerve in these corporate robots.

 

[MoeDaddy]

Well there has been over 600,000 downloads of Koush's Rom Manager which is only works on a rooted phone. So that is a good indication of how many out their root their phones. And while that number is small compared to the total it still isn't small enough to forget. Between my family and friends we have 12 android phones and 8 out of 12 of them are rooted. Granted that may not be the norm...

 

[Beardface]

LOL at the complete arrogance and childishness displayed in this thread. Not by Motorola, but by everyone in here that thinks they are owed an unlocked bootloader from a company just because. Well thats just silly. Motorola, much like any other company on this planet would do, is just trying to protect its name and its reputation going forward. Yes, being able to load custom ROMs and kernels is nice, but at the same time, its ridiculously easy to screw up your phone if you're not careful, and when you do, and the phone is truly bricked, they know you are bound to return it, blame Motorola, and get a new one. Just look at how many times its happened on here. You are cutting down on their profits because you are actively erasing everything they set up on the device, screwing up, and returning it for a new one under a warranty they cannot verify that you broke.

This community, especially the ones who root their phones and install custom kernels is just a drop of water in the toilet for them. Go ahead, threaten to go somewhere else. I guarantee you that they really just don't care. They are just making a business decision, and if you don't like it, tough toodles. I'm sure they'll really care about the couple hundred thousand who use this ability when the remaining user-base is 100x greater, if not a whole heck of a lot more.