The carrier denies blocking any applications pre-loaded on the smartphone

Dec 7, 2011 08:01 GMT  ·  By

It looks like Verizon Wireless is not guilty for the lack of the Google Wallet mobile payment application on the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Nexus. At least that’s what the carrier claims in its latest official statement that sheds some light on the issue.

 

We reported yesterday that the first smartphone to be delivered with Ice Cream Sandwich on board, the Galaxy Nexus will be shipped on December 9 without support for Google Wallet.

 

According to the folks over at Computerworld citing a Google spokesperson, Galaxy Nexus will not include Google Wallet.

 

However, the initial reports blame Verizon Wireless for this decision implying that the carrier is trying to protect its own investment in the ISIS NFC-based payment service that is expected to be launched next year.

 

One day after Google said that Verizon Wireless is the reason that Google Wallet will not be supported on Galaxy Nexus, the carrier came forward with a statement that explains that this is in fact a hardware-related issue.

 

It turns out that Google Wallet is a bit more complex in comparison with other mobile payment applications and needs to be included in a more secure hardware environment, which is proprietary to Verizon.

 

Although the carrier confirmed that both companies are now in talks to solve this issue, we doubt that Galaxy Nexus will be launched on December 9 with Google Wallet pre-loaded.

 

Read below the official statement coming from Jeffrey Nelson, spokesperson for Verizon:

 

Recent reports that Verizon is blocking Google Wallet on our devices are false. Verizon does not block applications.

 

Google Wallet is different from other widely-available m-commerce services. Google Wallet does not simply access the operating system and basic hardware of our phones like thousands of other applications. Instead, in order to work as architected by Google, Google Wallet needs to be integrated into a new, secure and proprietary hardware element in our phones.

 

We are continuing our commercial discussions with Google on this issue.”