HTC: All Our Devices Will Feature An Unlocked Bootloader From Now On
Dragos PirvuMay 27, 2011CellPhones, Featured
Some of you might say that HTC is crazy, but if you sit back and think for a while then you will realize that HTC is a company which listens to its customers and which puts the users’ needs on top of everything. HTC has announced that the company’s devices will no longer come packed with a locked bootloader, meaning that anybody can install whatever OS he / she wants in order to replace the stock OS.
The announcement was made by the company’s CEO, Peter Chou, via Facebook and the reason why HTC phones will no longer have locked bootloaders is due to the overwhelming consumer feedback as everybody seems to love unlocked bootloaders.
Although Motorola was the baddest of them all and promised that unlocked bootloaders will be released by the end of the year, it was HTC who responded first. Personally, I believe that there is no point in locking a bootloader that will eventually be unlocked by the community. Locking a bootloader wastes time and it against the progress of technology so it’s a good thing that HTC has decided to unlocked their devices.
Anyway HTC devices will still be locked to a carrier if you buy your smartphone from one, however, whenever the developers will release a custom ROM, you will be able to install it with ease without fearing that you might brick your device.
We don’t deny the fact that this is a perfect marketing strategy as HTC is probably the first company to announce that its devices won’t come with locked bootloaders and I’m sure that many people will consider the unlocked bootloader as a feature therefore they’ll buy a HTC device just for that.
That’s a nice one, HTC, so we can only congratulate you for listening to the consumers. I’m pretty sure you’re just talking about Android devices as Microsoft won’t probably agree with your policy when it comes about Windows Phone 7 devices.