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

[Backnblack]

Moto apologizes for the hastily posted "If you want to do custom roms, then buy elsewhere, we'll continue with our strategy that is working thanks."

Looks like whomever was running Motorola's YouTube page today might have gone a wee bit rogue. To recap, a comment on a video of the Atrix 4G was greeted with a tongue so sharp we had to make sure it wasn't ours. "If you want to do custom roms, then buy elsewhere, we'll continue with our strategy that is working thanks." Whoops.

The comment was deleted not too long after we first reported it. But the fallout continued, with Motorola issuing an apology on Facebook, and saying there may be a compromise for those who wish to do a little hacking:

We apologize for the feedback we provided regarding our bootloader policy. The response does not reflect the views of Motorola.

We are working closely with our partners to offer a bootloader solution that will enable developers to use our devices as a development platform while still protecting our users' interests. More detailed information will follow as we get closer to availability.

There also was this response to a followup on the YouTube page:

So we attempt to answer nearly all comments raised on this channel across over 130 videos and in a timely fashion. Sometimes we make a mistake, and the remark we agree could have been better phrased and more polite. So we do apologise, and that we will continue to monitor feedback on the wider discussion and pass that along. Thank you.

Mistakes certainly do happen, and we certainly understand the ... patience ... required when working in public. We'd cut Moto a little slack here -- but we'll also keep an eye out for any more shenanigans.

 

[GeneRs]

[/QUOTE]

They really "made" Android when it comes down to it. The g1 was on T-mobile for goodness sakes. Motorola could put out mediocre handsets for the next 3years because of the success of the D1 (anyone remember the razor?) Theyre not concerned about the MAYBE 1% of the population that posts on forums like this.

Also the reason that every Moto handset with have blur from now on. WHY? Because they can.[/QUOTE]

If they aren't concerned about our measily 1%, then why bother locking down their phones in the first place? Seems just the opposite IMO. I'm not sure how much they actually lose from people who brick their phones cause they don't know what they are doing and send them back as defective (pretty messy practice btw. Take responsibility for your mistakes people). But if 1% of us root and load custom roms, i would say less than half screw it up. Then, if half of those send their phones back as defect, how many would that actually be?

I understand the idea is to make money. But there is also a cost to doing bussiness. This seems less like a way to insure people get a good quality product and more like a way to dictate to the masses what they are allowed to do with something they own. Can't wait till the car companies start locking stereo systems so we can't change those either.

 

[Dan_08]

Lot of going back and forth on why Motorola should care about the hacking community. while we may only account for 1% (unk actual#) of total android sales, I can almost guarantee we can be credited for more than tripple the sales figures....


How many of you have persuaded friends, family members and co-workers to buy droids? I know I have personally have talked to 3 or four people into buying them. They may not be into hacking but they bought them off my recommendation. Now lets say Moto sticks to giving the hacking community the finger, most of us would probably recommend a different phone.

Just my thoughts. Either way I got a D1....

 

[Beardface]

Lot of going back and forth on why Motorola should care about the hacking community. while we may only account for 1% (unk actual#) of total android sales, I can almost guarantee we can be credited for more than tripple the sales figures....


How many of you have persuaded friends, family members and co-workers to buy droids? I know I have personally have talked to 3 or four people into buying them. They may not be into hacking but they bought them off my recommendation. Now lets say Moto sticks to giving the hacking community the finger, most of us would probably recommend a different phone.

Just my thoughts. Either way I got a D1....

With the onset of the EVO 4G on Sprint, and with all the other great Android phones that are coming out this year, I think it is fair enough to say that there is a great chance that the developers will be scattered across many platforms anyway this year.

Plus, I think it is a bit of a stretch (in fact, I think it is an incredibly large stretch) to credit all of the growth of Android to developers. Not with the marketing blitzkrieg that Verizon and Motorola put on last year on television, radio, print, and the internet. Thats like saying the iPhone wouldn't be as popular as it is without people being able to jailbreak it. Really? Please. Android is a great OS, and the Droid and Droid X were great phones that would have still been incredibly successful even without sites such as this. And to think that all of the Android users from the Droid would immediately flock to whatever phone we all suggest next... lol, right, ok, you keep thinking that.

Let me reiterate what I said before. Motorola is trying to create a brand that remains constant throughout its platform. They want people to know what brand is being used without people having to look at the logo on the hardware. They also want it locked down so that they know if something screws up and the phone is bricked, its their own fault instead of some 17 year old hack programming as a side venture when he's not learning basic US History in high school. Right now, they have been losing money on the Droid because they did not build in some kind of safeguard against tampering. People abused the system, and they saw a loss in profits that they would rather not see going forward. Doesn't matter if they are making a couple hundred million a year, if a couple thousand phones are being replaced every year due to faulty developers bricking phones with a retail price of $300 each, thats close to a million lost in sales. Any company would do whatever they could do eliminate that, its good business.

Motorola owes us nothing. Stop acting like they do.

 

[czerdrill]

Lot of going back and forth on why Motorola should care about the hacking community. while we may only account for 1% (unk actual#) of total android sales, I can almost guarantee we can be credited for more than tripple the sales figures....


How many of you have persuaded friends, family members and co-workers to buy droids? I know I have personally have talked to 3 or four people into buying them. They may not be into hacking but they bought them off my recommendation. Now lets say Moto sticks to giving the hacking community the finger, most of us would probably recommend a different phone.

Just my thoughts. Either way I got a D1....

With the onset of the EVO 4G on Sprint, and with all the other great Android phones that are coming out this year, I think it is fair enough to say that there is a great chance that the developers will be scattered across many platforms anyway this year.

Plus, I think it is a bit of a stretch (in fact, I think it is an incredibly large stretch) to credit all of the growth of Android to developers. Not with the marketing blitzkrieg that Verizon and Motorola put on last year on television, radio, print, and the internet. Thats like saying the iPhone wouldn't be as popular as it is without people being able to jailbreak it. Really? Please. Android is a great OS, and the Droid and Droid X were great phones that would have still been incredibly successful even without sites such as this. And to think that all of the Android users from the Droid would immediately flock to whatever phone we all suggest next... lol, right, ok, you keep thinking that.

Let me reiterate what I said before. Motorola is trying to create a brand that remains constant throughout its platform. They want people to know what brand is being used without people having to look at the logo on the hardware. They also want it locked down so that they know if something screws up and the phone is bricked, its their own fault instead of some 17 year old hack programming as a side venture when he's not learning basic US History in high school. Right now, they have been losing money on the Droid because they did not build in some kind of safeguard against tampering. People abused the system, and they saw a loss in profits that they would rather not see going forward. Doesn't matter if they are making a couple hundred million a year, if a couple thousand phones are being replaced every year due to faulty developers bricking phones with a retail price of $300 each, thats close to a million lost in sales. Any company would do whatever they could do eliminate that, its good business.

Motorola owes us nothing. Stop acting like they do.

+1. Couldn't have said it better myself. There's not some evil conspiracy from Motorola to hold down its customers. They're doing it for money. Which is what every company does. To expect otherwise, makes no sense. They don't have to unlock their bootloaders, especially because less then 1% of their base wants to hack (FAR less than 1% considering this forum has less than 1% of ANDROID users combined...)

It's all about making money. Nothing deeper then that...

As much as people want to think that the hackers are the one who rejuvenated Motorola (lol wut??) that's clearly not the case...I would think the $100M+ marketing campaign had a little bit more to do with it...

 

[czerdrill]

They really "made" Android when it comes down to it. The g1 was on T-mobile for goodness sakes. Motorola could put out mediocre handsets for the next 3years because of the success of the D1 (anyone remember the razor?) Theyre not concerned about the MAYBE 1% of the population that posts on forums like this.

Also the reason that every Moto handset with have blur from now on. WHY? Because they can.

If they aren't concerned about our measily 1%, then why bother locking down their phones in the first place? Seems just the opposite IMO. I'm not sure how much they actually lose from people who brick their phones cause they don't know what they are doing and send them back as defective (pretty sh***y practice btw. Take responsibility for your mistakes people). But if 1% of us root and load custom roms, i would say less than half screw it up. Then, if half of those send their phones back as defect, how many would that actually be?

I understand the idea is to make money. But there is also a cost to doing bussiness. This seems less like a way to insure people get a good quality product and more like a way to dictate to the masses what they are allowed to do with something they own. Can't wait till the car companies start locking stereo systems so we can't change those either.

because the "hackers" are not the only ones who try to get a trade in for their bricks. There are plenty of people who try to play the system. By locking down the bootloader, they take one group out of the equation. There are people who will "lose" their phone, or report their phone "stolen" when they want a new one, or they drop their phone and it breaks. It happens everyday. I mean, when VZW was giving away D2's in place of D1's for a bit, people on this very forum were playing the system so they could get their new phones....

 

[Dan_08]

With the onset of the EVO 4G on Sprint, and with all the other great Android phones that are coming out this year, I think it is fair enough to say that there is a great chance that the developers will be scattered across many platforms anyway this year.

Plus, I think it is a bit of a stretch (in fact, I think it is an incredibly large stretch) to credit all of the growth of Android to developers. Not with the marketing blitzkrieg that Verizon and Motorola put on last year on television, radio, print, and the internet. Thats like saying the iPhone wouldn't be as popular as it is without people being able to jailbreak it. Really? Please. Android is a great OS, and the Droid and Droid X were great phones that would have still been incredibly successful even without sites such as this. And to think that all of the Android users from the Droid would immediately flock to whatever phone we all suggest next... lol, right, ok, you keep thinking that.

Let me reiterate what I said before. Motorola is trying to create a brand that remains constant throughout its platform. They want people to know what brand is being used without people having to look at the logo on the hardware. They also want it locked down so that they know if something screws up and the phone is bricked, its their own fault instead of some 17 year old hack programming as a side venture when he's not learning basic US History in high school. Right now, they have been losing money on the Droid because they did not build in some kind of safeguard against tampering. People abused the system, and they saw a loss in profits that they would rather not see going forward. Doesn't matter if they are making a couple hundred million a year, if a couple thousand phones are being replaced every year due to faulty developers bricking phones with a retail price of $300 each, thats close to a million lost in sales. Any company would do whatever they could do eliminate that, its good business.

Motorola owes us nothing. Stop acting like they do.

I never said motorola owed us anything.....for all that typing try reading first....

I'll sum it up so you can comprehend, the community may only be 1% but our reviews and opinions do infact influence the market. So go ahead read into it and post another long drawn out ramble.

Sent from my Sourcery using DroidForums App

 

[czerdrill]

With the onset of the EVO 4G on Sprint, and with all the other great Android phones that are coming out this year, I think it is fair enough to say that there is a great chance that the developers will be scattered across many platforms anyway this year.

Plus, I think it is a bit of a stretch (in fact, I think it is an incredibly large stretch) to credit all of the growth of Android to developers. Not with the marketing blitzkrieg that Verizon and Motorola put on last year on television, radio, print, and the internet. Thats like saying the iPhone wouldn't be as popular as it is without people being able to jailbreak it. Really? Please. Android is a great OS, and the Droid and Droid X were great phones that would have still been incredibly successful even without sites such as this. And to think that all of the Android users from the Droid would immediately flock to whatever phone we all suggest next... lol, right, ok, you keep thinking that.

Let me reiterate what I said before. Motorola is trying to create a brand that remains constant throughout its platform. They want people to know what brand is being used without people having to look at the logo on the hardware. They also want it locked down so that they know if something screws up and the phone is bricked, its their own fault instead of some 17 year old hack programming as a side venture when he's not learning basic US History in high school. Right now, they have been losing money on the Droid because they did not build in some kind of safeguard against tampering. People abused the system, and they saw a loss in profits that they would rather not see going forward. Doesn't matter if they are making a couple hundred million a year, if a couple thousand phones are being replaced every year due to faulty developers bricking phones with a retail price of $300 each, thats close to a million lost in sales. Any company would do whatever they could do eliminate that, its good business.

Motorola owes us nothing. Stop acting like they do.

I never said motorola owed us anything.....for all that typing try reading first....

I'll sum it up so you can comprehend, the community may only be 1% but our reviews and opinions do infact influence the market. So go ahead read into it and post another long drawn out ramble.

Sent from my Sourcery using DroidForums App

so do the reviews and opinions of the other 99+% of droid owners and the 100M dollar marketing campaign. Our "influence" on the market is so little it might as well be irrelevant.

 

[mobile_sensei]

I'd like to tell Motorola to BITE somewhere else.

DROID X, Rolling on £iberty ROM. via Tapatalk Pro

 

[Beardface]

With the onset of the EVO 4G on Sprint, and with all the other great Android phones that are coming out this year, I think it is fair enough to say that there is a great chance that the developers will be scattered across many platforms anyway this year.

Plus, I think it is a bit of a stretch (in fact, I think it is an incredibly large stretch) to credit all of the growth of Android to developers. Not with the marketing blitzkrieg that Verizon and Motorola put on last year on television, radio, print, and the internet. Thats like saying the iPhone wouldn't be as popular as it is without people being able to jailbreak it. Really? Please. Android is a great OS, and the Droid and Droid X were great phones that would have still been incredibly successful even without sites such as this. And to think that all of the Android users from the Droid would immediately flock to whatever phone we all suggest next... lol, right, ok, you keep thinking that.

Let me reiterate what I said before. Motorola is trying to create a brand that remains constant throughout its platform. They want people to know what brand is being used without people having to look at the logo on the hardware. They also want it locked down so that they know if something screws up and the phone is bricked, its their own fault instead of some 17 year old hack programming as a side venture when he's not learning basic US History in high school. Right now, they have been losing money on the Droid because they did not build in some kind of safeguard against tampering. People abused the system, and they saw a loss in profits that they would rather not see going forward. Doesn't matter if they are making a couple hundred million a year, if a couple thousand phones are being replaced every year due to faulty developers bricking phones with a retail price of $300 each, thats close to a million lost in sales. Any company would do whatever they could do eliminate that, its good business.

Motorola owes us nothing. Stop acting like they do.

I never said motorola owed us anything.....for all that typing try reading first....

I'll sum it up so you can comprehend, the community may only be 1% but our reviews and opinions do infact influence the market. So go ahead read into it and post another long drawn out ramble.

Sent from my Sourcery using DroidForums App

This is like peeing on a flower during a rainstorm and claiming you were responsible for watering it.

Android would still be incredibly successful, and Motorola would still be the face of it on Verizon even without sites like this. You know, considering Verizon, the largest carrier in the US, decided to make the Android platform (and more importantly, the Motorola Droid) the face of their franchise in late 2009. I'm willing to venture that more than 99% of Android users got their device without ever even hearing of a site like this.

But go ahead, continue to try taking credit for the popularity of the platform. Doesn't make it true.

 

[sweeeeet]

They act like Motorola is this elite brand.... i couldn't even name a phone before the d1 other then the Razr which was sold for looks but complete garbage.... i have a d1 and i'm happy with it but if i couldnt fully customize and overclock it i would already be shopping new phones.... i'm sticking with android and verizon but i have no problem moving on from motorola, its just another name

 

[srothkin]

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.....

Easy carrier solution for that -- forget about charging for tethering -- just charge for the amount of data usage. Those who use large amounts of data via tethering will be automatically charged more (or will need to upgrade to a larger data plan).

 

[srothkin]

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.

That's like saying I'm arrogant if I buy a laptop with Windows 7 preinstalled and then I want to wipe it and load Linux but can't because the laptop manufacturer locked the laptop to prevent replacing the operating system.

On the one hand the manufacturer isn't required to support me if I replace the OS (on the laptop or on the phone) -- if I mess it up, I'm on my own to fix/restore it to working. On the other hand whether or not to take this risk should be my choice.

 

[GeneRs]

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.

that's like saying i'm arrogant if i buy a laptop with windows 7 preinstalled and then i want to wipe it and load linux but can't because the laptop manufacturer locked the laptop to prevent replacing the operating system.

On the one hand the manufacturer isn't required to support me if i replace the os (on the laptop or on the phone) -- if i mess it up, i'm on my own to fix/restore it to working. On the other hand whether or not to take this risk should be my choice.

excellent point! !!!

 

[czerdrill]

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.

That's like saying I'm arrogant if I buy a laptop with Windows 7 preinstalled and then I want to wipe it and load Linux but can't because the laptop manufacturer locked the laptop to prevent replacing the operating system.

On the one hand the manufacturer isn't required to support me if I replace the OS (on the laptop or on the phone) -- if I mess it up, I'm on my own to fix/restore it to working. On the other hand whether or not to take this risk should be my choice.

yeah...no. What it's actually like is you replacing your Windows OS with Linux and then asking your ISP to replace your laptop because it's bricked. Motorola doesn't care if you hack and destroy your phone, nor does VZW. They do care when you act like its not your fault and then try to get a replacement for something you did. If everyone took the risk and then bricked their phone and then said "ah well, i had a good run...time to go buy a new phone" this wouldn't be a problem. The problem is the people who take the risk and then blame VZW and Motorola and try to get a free phone out of it. Two completely different things.