14 DAY TRIAL // Leading mobile phone maker Motorola has had a tight policy regarding the installation of custom ROMs on its devices, but things might change in the future, the company confirmed recently.
Motorola has tried to make the bootloaders on its devices as safe as possible, in an attempt to prevent hackers from rooting them and from installing other ROMs than the official ones.
Thus, as answer to a comment on the company's YouTube account, a company's employee said the following: “@tdcrooks if you want to do custom roms, then buy elsewhere, we’ll continue with our strategy that is working thanks.” The post was removed since.
Here's what the comment read: “Even though this phone seems to have the best hardware specs yet, no sale if the bootloader is locked like the Motorola Milestone I have. It’s really upsetting to not be able to put custom roms on MY device… Please Moto, do the right thing. [For your customers, that is].”
The said answer was in line with the company's policy on the installation of custom ROMs, though it was seen as being inappropriate and rude.
Following this PR blunder, Motorola posted on its Facebook page a statement on its bootloader policy, and said that it was looking for ways in which it might change the current state of facts.
“We apologize for the feedback we provided regarding our bootloader policy. The response does not reflect the views of Motorola,” the company notes on its Facebook page (via Phandroid).
“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.”
It seems that the company indeed changed its mind on this, otherwise they wouldn't have got through the trouble of posting an apology to said comment.
Rooters, developers and end-users alike were disappointed of Motorola's policy on bootloaders, but good news might be coming their way in the near future. Keep an eye on this space for more info on the matter.
