HTC today announced that something great has happened for you since HTC is no longer holding its ROM updates behind an e-Club registration wall. As of Thursday, just like on HTC's US site, you will be able to visit the support section for any of HTC's unlocked Windows Mobile smartphone and UMPC models and see a link to downloads, including ROMs. For sure, these ROMs can be used with original HTC devices only and will not work with carrier branded versions (out of the box) but many of us has experienced the frustration of not being able to register a phone properly on the HTC e-Club, and therefore have been denied a ROM update. Actually HTC listened to all our complaints and opened the download to everybody.

Nevertheless, the HTC e-Club is not going away, but rather becoming a place where customers can come to get goodies to customize their phones. For instance, HTC is now offering 20 new ringtones for the launch and more content will be rolled out later.

Cheers ~ Arne