I know there is quite a large segment of smart phone users (Android included) who could care less about doing anything with their phone other than download a few apps, a game or two maybe, and leave it at that. I don't have a problem with them, I don't preach at them for being too damn lazy to customize their phone or for not owning it (making it their own) instead of living with a phone that everyone else has. Why would I care? Why would anyone care?
So what I really don't understand is those who come in here and preach at the community that does want ultimate control over their cellular devices... get over yourselves, why push your priorities onto someone else? I personally have never accused Motorola of overstepping their authority. In fact I've made it a point to acknowledge that Google doesn't prohibit such behavior, so both sides here agree that Moto is well within their rights to do what they did. Now, pull out your handbook and show us where it says we gotta like it.
This is how companies rise and fall, by way of consumer spending. They can do whatever they damn well please with their phones, I've ditched them before after the Motorola Q fiasco and went with Blackberry instead. Soon afterwards they were on the brink of bankruptcy... not because I jumped to Blackberry, but because the vast majority of consumers jumped to something other than a Motorola. They had failed to keep their customer base happy, and they paid the price by almost going out of business.
Now then, I'm not so egotistical that I believe my decision not to buy another phone with a locked bootloader is going to send Motorola back to skid row, all I'm saying is that if everyone who disagree's with this situation went out and bought another device that doesn't employ the same limitations as the X (and others), it might send a message to Motorola that there is money to be made in unlocked phones. They watch that sort of thing after all, consumer spending habits. That's how they decide what to produce and put on the market.
Microsoft is really trying to make a big splash with their new OS. I say if they're really smart they'll instruct the OEM's producing their phones to keep them open for optimization. Let the dev/hacker community take off with them and turn them into the next BIG thing. If they were to do so and Window 7 really caught on with the young crowd and those who want absolute freedom to do whatever they wanted to do with their phone without restriction, they could very well grow their market share and ride the same wave Android rode to the top when they were open and totally customizable.
It's just a theory, but if they were able to accomplish this... well nothing gets the attention of a company faster than watching a competitor eat away at their bottom line. And when they realized that the reason Windows 7 caught fire was because of the lure of their unrestricted devices, guess what? Ah yeah, money talks, bullshit walks.
Which is exactly what I've been saying about voting with my wallet. Nobody can argue with the fact that companies are influenced by consumer spending. The only question left is whether or not there are enough of us to make a dent at all. It's hard to answer that question now. We'll see what the landscape looks like in 2 or 3 years. If there were enough of us to make a difference we'll see the effects in what companies like Motorola and HTC are offering on the market at that time.
