14 DAY TRIAL // Apple managed to ban Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus in the United States, and Google has already made a move in accordance with this decision: the smartphone is no longer available for purchase through the Google Play Store.
Users who head over to the official product page for Galaxy Nexus on that website will be informed that the device is coming soon.
Galaxy Nexus, the latest Google phone out there and the first such smartphone to land on shelves with the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS on board, was found to infringe patents Apple holds in the mobile space.
A judge has determined that sales of this device should be banned in the country, and Samsung and Google already complied. Samsung appealed the court’s decision, but in vain.
However, it seems that things should be brought back to their normal state in the near future, as both Google and Samsung are working on resolving the issue.
Google is reportedly working on coming up with a software update for the device, so as to get the ban lifted.
The update will affect the performance of Galaxy Nexus’ search bar, which will provide results only from the web from now on. The Voice Search capabilities of the device will also be limited.
Apparently, the software workaround will be pushed to all Galaxy Nexus devices in the United States, regardless of their wireless carrier.
Verizon and Sprint did not remove the Galaxy Nexus from their websites, but they might update their listing pages soon, to reflect the aforementioned change in availability.
According to The Verge, Galaxy Nexus will be safe from Apple’s patents as soon as Android 4.1 gets loaded on it. The Google Now feature that powers search in the upcoming platform version does not infringe iPhone maker’s patents, a spokesperson reportedly stated.
No specific info on when the software update will start to arrive on Galaxy Nexus has emerged so far, but it should not be too long before that happens, so stay tuned.