Nokiaâ€™s online firmware repository has often been the source of early access to official Windows Phone firmware well before the company has actually pushed it out as an update to consumer handsets.

It has always been somewhat of an oddity that this would just be open to the public, and now with increasing awareness of this Nokia has decided to lock down access to the ROM collection.

In a news bulletin picked up by, Smartmobil Nokia says:

IMPORTANT NEWS BULLETIN 12-21-2012 FROM NOKIA:

Nokia will close open connection to Nokia Firmware Repository during January 2013 and Implement access control. After this, the Nokia Online login is required to access Nokia Firmware Repository.

During transition phase (December 2012 – January 2013), both open and restricted channels are open, but the open channel will be closed at the end of January 2013

After this, application updates and device software downloading are possible only by using the latest software releases with service NOL login supported.

Access will be restricted to those with the right Nokia account at the end of January, so if you wanted that latest Windows Phone 7.8 ROM you better get ready to download it soon.

The change does of course remind us of Microsoftâ€™s promise in June to have a â€œProgram (which) lets registered enthusiasts get early access to updates before broad consumer pushâ€. Wonder what happened to thatâ€¦.

Via AllaboutWindowsPhone.com