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Official: Verizon Samsung Galaxy Nexus will not support Google Wallet

Categories: Android, Samsung, Verizon
By: , IntoMobile
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011 at 2:35 AM
galaxynexus

Remember when Google made a whole bunch of noise about their new mobile payments service and how they were going to render your old leather bifold absolutely useless? That never really happened. It’s been nearly 3 months since Google unveiled Google Wallet and it still only ships on one device (the Nexus S), is still only supported by one operator (Sprint), and still integrates with just one bank (Citi). Why the holdup? AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon formed a joint venture called ISIS way back in November 2010 that promised to be the ultimate mobile payments solution. Instead of ceding control of their customers to Google, which some might say they’ve already done to a certain degree thanks to the Android phones they peddle in their stores, ISIS would be a platform that everyone could latch onto to provide the best possible user experience. The first trials of ISIS are due to take place during the summer of 2012 in Salt Lake City, Utah and Austin, Texas.

So what about the Galaxy Nexus? It’s a Google Phone, so it’s assumed that it’ll ship with Google Wallet … or at least that’s what you’d think. The folks at ComputerWorld contacted Google to figure out about the Google Wallet situation, and they said that the Verizon Nexus will not have it installed because that’s how Verizon wanted things to be. Whether or not you’ll be able to install the Google Wallet app on your own hasn’t been established, but we can’t imagine Verizon wanting to block that ability. If they did it would cause such a shit storm that it’s simply not worth it.

If this story has any lesson you can take away, it’s this: Always, always, always buy your phone unlocked and unbranded, because if you don’t then you’ll have to deal with whatever shady things your operator has done to your subsidized smartphone. Things like removing product features such as tethering, loading up bloatware that you can’t uninstall, and now we’re just finding out about Carrier IQ.

About The Author

Stefan Constantinescu

Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.

  • Geekatron

    Keep in mind that Google wallet is integrated with the carrier. Even if you have a compatible phone the application will not want to install unless you have a supported carrier.

  • Jaime Ramirez

    HATE VERIZON

  • Anonymous

    Isn’t this considered anti-competitive practicing? How can they tell you what to do with your phone as long as it doesn’t harm their network, thru abuse or making it vulnerable to attack? I can see that this is not going to work out good for Verizon. I’m interested to see, if there will be a truly unlocked T-Mobile and/or At&t compatible device. Meaning will you not be able to use Google Wallet on this device as well?

    Pathetic! Can’t out innovate competition, so you just stifle them. They need to just stay out of the payment business and remain a dumb pipe. Let the manufacturers work with the financial institutions for a standard. That’s all they will need from the carrier anyway is their data dumb pipe to succeed. Maybe a little advice on implementation. Not a this is it or nothing at all version.