Some of you may know that last week Vodafone rolled out a surprise update last week for its HTC Desire. Many customers, expecting an update to Android 2.2, accepted the update. Only then did they realize that the real surprise was a bunch of Vodafone bloatware was installed, with no Froyo to ease the pain.
Apparently the customer/press reaction was bad enough that Vodafone has reconsidered its strategy. According to the BBC, Vodafone has announced that when the carrier does release Android 2.2, supposedly in “seven to ten days”, it will be the vanilla HTC Sense imbued Android, no carrier fluff included. The carrier applications would be made available separately for an optional download. Nifty.
This is an interesting phenomenon here, as the carrier usually sets the rules where software is concerned, including their own software whether it’s wanted or not. I’m looking at you Sprint Nascar app. If this is the first step to a more broadly implemented plan, there will be many more the happy customers. I wouldn’t hold my breath though. Many carrier installed applications are due to agreements that the carriers have with companies, software or otherwise, (like the aforementioned Nascar) and the carriers are obligated contractually to include those apps in all applicable phones.
Still, a guy can dream, and one step such as this, with the right positive customer and press attention, could have the potential, however unlikely, of making other carriers reconsider their software strategies.
[via The Next Web]
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