One great business reason is to stand out from the crowd, there are lots of Android phones to choose from and lots of power users who enjoy flashing their own roms and what not, so it could be a good selling point to those users.
Perhaps a phone company wanting to take a risk and be different could offer a variety of approved roms to choose from and allow users to install them. Guess that doesn't specifically mean they have to have root though. I guess I would have to ask the question, why not sell the phone with root permissions. I see why Archos doesn't want you to have root, because they want you to cough up the extra 40 bucks to install HD audio playback. But I guess all it really boils down to is does the company want to allow power users more freedom. It shouldn't make a difference to the average joe consumer, and having root heightens the risk for malware/viruses. It is a slipperly slope Mark. On Mar 3, 1:02 pm, Mike Kedl <[email protected]> wrote: > I'll try to read your full post later. > > I'm an Electrical and Software Engineer, my quick thoughts for *my* choice > on phones (and operating systems and computers and game consoles and > anything I can find choices on) runs like this: > - I want something that works well > - I want something that is upgradeable > - I want something that is open source > - I want something I can play with and change and learn from and make better > - I would prefer something with a decent, friendly, good sized development > community > - I want something at a reasonable price > > So, since we are talking about phones, this means *I* thought like this: > - Windows phone: don't like the OS, don't like the way it "feels" to use it, > its closed source, etc. > - Apple phone: like the OS, its expensive, "feels" ok, its closed source, > hard to modify, pretty locked down, etc. > - RIM phone: don't like the OS, don't like the way it "feels", its closed > source, pretty locked down, etc. > - Nokia phone: OS is so-so, "feel" is so-so, until recently was closed > source > - Android phone: OS is pretty nice, "feel" is ok, mostly open source, good > development community, hardware is pretty open, etc. > > I *almost* bought an iphone a few years ago when my Treo 650 was failing, > but luckily I waited for android and I like my Nexus and everything I can do > with it without any more hoop jumping than for any other device I currently > know about. > > So, if companies want to sell me things and earn my business they sell me > phones, computers and consoles at a reasonable price compared to other > offerings, running Linux or similar OS, easily modifiable hardware (cards, > batteries, accessories, etc) and not "locked". > > Do I represent a large percent of consumers? I don't know. > Is this percentage of consumers that want choice and control growing? I > think so. > > On Wed, Mar 3, 2010 at 1:30 PM, Mark Murphy <[email protected]> wrote: > > I am in the process of collecting ideas from the community on one > > "simple" question: > > > What are the *business reasons* why a device manufacturer should allow > > replacement firmware and/or root access by default on devices? > > > The full post, along with some existing feedback, can be found here: > > >http://www.androidguys.com/2010/03/03/reasons-root > > > If you would like to provide input and would prefer to reply to this > > message rather than comment on the AndroidGuys post itself, cool! Here > > is what I am looking for (again, more details on that post): > > > -- I want business and economic arguments, not moral or ethical ones, > > since we're long on the moral/ethical reasons and short on the business > > ones > > > -- Act like professionals > > > -- That being said, both carrots and sticks are valid suggestions > > > -- Do not overestimate the size of the current modding community > > > I will be rolling up the ideas into a follow-up post, and I hope to put > > these ideas to good use in the weeks and months to come. > > > Thanks! > > > -- > > Mark Murphy (a Commons Guy) > >http://commonsware.com|http://twitter.com/commonsguy > > > Android Online Training: 26-30 April 2010:http://onlc.com > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "Android Discuss" group. > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > [email protected]<android-discuss%[email protected]> > > . > > For more options, visit this group at > >http://groups.google.com/group/android-discuss?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Discuss" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-discuss?hl=en.
