[Ben]

Oh yes, boys and girls, Vodafone has used Android's update mechanism to do what we all fear most - add more branding!

http://www.mobilebusinessbriefing.com/article/vodafone-s-htc-desire-update-irks-customers

How miffed would you be if you thought you were installing Froyo and instead you ended up with a new homepage, links to dating sites, and Vodafone 360 apps that can't be removed?

I'd be outraged by this. Just a little reminder of why it's always better to go SIM free!

[miffed]

Blimey , I'd be more than a little miffed !

I really thought we were getting somewhere with this - My HTC Magic simply has a Vodafone splash screen and one Vodafone live icon , which was on the homescreen by default , but could be easily chucked in the app drawer. I got few a fair few ROMs on my HD2 , and again , branding was minimal.

Why on earth do they do it ? I suspect it costs money to apply branding , and I've yet to meet someone who likes it !! No one would go out of their way to buy a branded handset - But you can bet you life that if an operator puts out a handset with ZERO branding , then people WILL view that as a selling point.
Once you have bought a device , then moving the goalposts afterwards is pretty naughty !

[Hands0n]

Another own goal by Vodafone? I am astonished that they have done this. It does appear like there is some new kind of management strategy on the go. But I am not convinced that they are on the right track at all with this branding malarkey.

I can understand that Vodafone, as other operators also, want to increase the amount of spend each customer makes into their coffers. By pushing Vodafone Live! in the punters face at every opportunity the thinking must be that eventually they will start to consume Vodafone's content. But it does seem to have backfired among many. Their Twitter channel has been buzzing, the forums too and the media are not that impressed either.

I do think that there is a more than fair chance that as the operators increase their branding and lock-in that the more savvy customers will start to go SIM-free by any means. The simplest, and cheapest at the point of sale, would be to de-brand and unlock the contract handset. Otherwise, those with a bit more finance available will be able to buy brand new from the growing number of SIM-free channels. Perhaps, then, the manufacturers will see a chink in the mobile network's armour and start to promote SIM-free by bringing down the prices to more commodity levels.

In any event, I do think that Vodafone are playing a dangerous game by taking actions that are making people question the work of their service proposition. Meanwhile the likes of Three are pressing ahead with cleaning up their act, modernising their portfolio of devices and selling mobile voice, text and data are very appealing prices. They have only to sort out their customer service issues and the word will spread. Give it a year and the attrition from Vodafone to Three could become a torrent of currently unimaginable proportions.

[Hands0n]

I've just been reading through the Facebook group that has been started up here --> http://www.facebook.com/pages/Say-No-To-Vodafone-360-Spamware-On-The-HTC-Desire/143316162362864?ref=ts

The natives are most definitely restless. Lots of high emotion on the go, and lots of info and encouragement to de-brand to stock HTC in readiness for the Froyo 2.2 update which un-branded handsets already have :)

Oh well, a bit of an own goal by Vodafone methinks. Those that don't have the technical savvy or confidence will probably just churn to another network come contract renewal time.

As one correspondent says - this is one of those glorious reasons for why to buy an iPhone. Apple would never have allowed any network to brand up their product like HTC has permitted. There are benefits to Open Source OS and there are very definite liabilities. No wonder the mobile network operators are going ga-ga for Android handsets!

[Ben]

I hear you there. Apple keep everything locked down. A lot of people see that as a negative. For many of us it's an overwhelming positive - it means that nobody else gets to fiddle with our stuff.

Apple do, though, from time to time. The latest Safari updates (Mac/PC) are doing my *head in*.