It’s rare to see a mobile operator paying much attention to the wishes of its customers when they’re busy trying to pursue their commercial aims, but kudos goes to Vodafone after the company backed down over their decision to foist a load of unwanted software on to HTC Desire handsets.
Shovelware
HTC Desire users on their network were angered last week when an over-the-air update foisted a load of irremovable Vodafone-branded ‘360’- apps on to their devices.
With customers expecting the download to be the eagerly awaited 2.2 ‘Froyo’ update to the Android OS, the arrival of a Vodafone-branded start-up screen and a shedload of web bookmarks to the device which included tacky links to dating sites – was not a welcome addition.
360 degree turnaround
In the face of growing anger from customers, the company has backed down, posting a message on the Vodafone forums:
We’ve listened to feedback from customers on a number of points around the recent 360 Android 2.1 update and made some changes to the rollout plan.
The Android 2.2 update for Vodafone HTC Desire users will be based on the HTC open market version of the software and we will customise it to ensure our network settings are installed.
For customers who have downloaded the recent 360 update for Android 2.1, we can confirm that the Android 2.2 update will remove the 360 applications and will leave the homepage and bookmarks on your current settings.
Suitably chastised, Vodafone has now said that it will make the 360 apps available as separate downloads for customers who wish to use them (we don’t imagine there’s going to be too much of a rush there).
What the people really want, however, is the Android 2.2 “Froyo” update, which is now said to be heading to Vodafone users “within the next seven to ten days”. Huzzah!
*Note to Orange: can you remove all the junk off your HTC handsets too, please?
[Via]
This is the most tack thing I have every heard of. I just looked for more information and found that Vodafone still have links to that software on their website. It’s the kind of stuff that companies are normally very careful to not be associated with.
Honestly, for me, the negative association is such a strong one that I don’t think I will ever be able to think of Vodafone without thinking of extreme tack.