After lengthy delay, Galaxy S III ‘Developer Edition’ released to non-existent market

Well, that took just a bit longer than expected. Samsung’s “Developer Edition” Galaxy S III for Verizon Wireless is now available directly from the manufacturer — over two months after we were told that the device would be “coming soon.” Over that time period, an xda-developers member uploaded an unlocked bootloader, which has made it just as easy to load custom ROMs onto the device as any other variant of the Galaxy S III.

After Verizon’s decision to lock the bootloader on the standard, on-contract Galaxy S III, the “Developer Edition” was announced as an option for those who wanted to have full access to their devices, allowing them to heavily customize how the phone runs and completely change the user interface using alternative ROMs like CyanogenMod. It wasn’t an awful compromise — at least it’s an option — but with users able to work their way around the locked bootloader and the lengthy delay in getting the special edition to market, we suspect that few if any will be interested in the device at this point. If you are looking to pick one up, it is identical internally to the standard Galaxy S III, and is available directly from Samsung for $599.99 (16GB) or $649.99 (32GB) — the same as the off-contract prices that Verizon quotes on its website.