Root addicts and ROM flashers on Verizon, prepare to lose it. According to a short question and answer session with Motorola Mobility's VP of Product Management Punit Soni, there will be no Developer Edition of the swanky second-gen Moto X for Verizon. Google+ user Shane Barone asked Mr. Soni about the availability of a developer edition and got this apologetic reply:

Developer Editions are special carrier editions of phones sold without a contract and with an unlockable bootloader, made available for customers on carriers that permanently lock bootloaders as a matter of course. The original Moto X was made available in a Verizon Developer Edition and a GSM Developer Edition, ostensibly for AT&T customers. Motorola has also sold developer editions of last year's DROID MAXX and the DROID RAZR M and DROID RAZR HD from 2012. HTC and Samsung have made various flagship phones available in a Developer Edition as well, including this year's One M8 and Galaxy S5.

Customers who enjoy (or rely on) the larger networks like AT&T and Verizon, but who also want the customization and flashing options that come with an unlocked bootloader, custom recovery, root, and custom ROMs, are a small but enthusiastic market for Developer Edition phones. (I myself use a DROID MAXX Developer Edition for my personal Android phone.) They also pay dearly for the privilege, giving up the savings generally available for contract carrier customers, and in the case of the original Moto X, the customization options from Moto Maker.

Why Motorola would choose to forego a Developer Edition for their latest Verizon flagship isn't clear, but if I had to guess, I'd say that they didn't sell enough of the original Moto X DE to make it worth their while. New phones in the Verizon DROID line are expected later this year - perhaps one of them will be available in a Developer Edition. GSM-unlocked versions of the 2014 Moto X should be unlockable using the existing Motorola system.

Source: Shane Barone Google+ - thanks, Russ Thacher!