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Everyone loses with this, though. Motorola loses because their devices are more expensive and take more effort to manufacture. Apathetic consumers lose because
by ori_b 16y ago
Everyone loses with this, though. Motorola loses because their devices are more expensive and take more effort to manufacture. Apathetic consumers lose because the devices are more expensive and geeks are less likely to be inclined to improve the ecosystem. And geeks lose because the devices are more expensive and harder to hack.
It makes no good sense for Motorola to burn cash on making their phones harder to hack when they don't need to - it's only managerial paranoia that leads to this, as best I can tell.
- protomyth 16y agoMotorola is not loosing money on this. They have accounting numbers that tell them that having a modifiable device ups their support cost. People without the real technical ability or (worse) people with no technical ability that have friends/relatives who do the 'upgrade' for them cost money in support. The difference in manufacturing cost over the production run is insignificant (i.e. they are not increasing the end-user cost based on this change). Companies like Motorola know most of their customers are apathetic to the needs of hackers and look to the bottom line. Apps will still run on the phone, so customers will still have that. This is a win for Motorola in the market they serve.
- wdewind 16y agoDefinitely. Ultimately the consumer pays less because of this.
- angusgr 16y agoI'd be interested to see some proof that this is why this is happening. The best reasons I've read for why Apple is so hard on jailbreaking is (a) carrier agreements not liking unlocks and (b) pirating of apps. I find these reasons a bit more compelling, although like I said I'd like to see more information about it.