Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile

Verizon to block Google Wallet on the Galaxy Nexus

Jeffrey Van Camp
By
google-wallet-nope
Image used with permission by copyright holder

If you were excited to try out Google Wallet on the Galaxy Nexus, you’ll have to look elsewhere. Verizon has decided to block Google’s mobile payments solution from the phone. Google representatives have confirmed with multiple sources that it was Verizon’s decision to block the product. 

“Verizon asked us not to include this functionality in the product,” a Google representative told CNET.

Recommended Videos

No official reason has been given, but it’s known that Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile are working with ISIS to concoct another mobile payment system. The three carriers have invested at least $100 million in the company this year. It’s likely that AT&T and T-Mobile will block the app as well. You may wonder why there can’t be two or more competing systems, since the US is a country built on the idea of competition, but wireless carriers have been known to repeatedly restrict functionality on phones and devices for their own gain. Mobile hotspots and tethering are two recent examples, but even running app stores used to be a carrier-led function. Luckily, smartphones have changed that. It’s likely that whatever system ISIS develops will give carriers some form of monetary return. Google’s service does not give a kickback to carriers, as far as we know. 

Related

Sprint is currently the only US carrier that supports Google Wallet. Community hacks to allow NFC-enabled phones to run Google Wallet will likely pour out, though with data as sensitive as our credit card numbers, we really wish a hack wouldn’t be necessary to try out Google’s service. For now, the Galaxy Nexus 

Launching the Galaxy Nexus–which is supposed to be an open Google phone–on Verizon continues to be a challenge for Google and Samsung. Though its Droid brand helped catapult Android into the mainstream, Verizon is used to highly restricting and modifying the phones on its network. Earlier this year, Verizon went so far as to remove vital Google apps like Maps and put Bing on the LG Revolution, almost entirely removing the main reasons people buy an Android handset. The carrier, like others, also controls the entire launch process for devices. Just yesterday, Samsung employees at a showcase shop in New York were forced to pull the Galaxy Nexus from shelves. We cataloged that whole debacle here. 

We have heard rumors that the Galaxy Nexus may finally hit shelves on Friday, but Verizon has yet to give an actual release date. 

Update: Bloomberg has obtained a quote from a Verizon representative, claiming that the app has been removed due to security concerns. Jeffrey Nelson, a Verizon spokesperson said that Verizon wants to have “the best security and user experience” and that it will unblock Google Wallet “when those goals are achieved.” What, exactly, that means is unclear. Will Google have to somehow integrate ISIS’s system to be approved?

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Jeffrey Van Camp
Jeffrey Van Camp
Former Digital Trends Contributor
As DT's Deputy Editor, Jeff helps oversee editorial operations at Digital Trends. Previously, he ran the site's…
There’s a big problem with the iPhone’s Photos app
The Apple iPhone 15 Plus's gallery app.

While my primary device these days continues to be my iPhone 15 Pro, I’ve dabbled with plenty of Android phones since I’ve been here at Digital Trends. One of my favorite brands of phone has been the Google Pixel because of its strong suite of photo-editing tools and good camera hardware.

Google first added the Magic Eraser capability with the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, which is a tool I love using. Then, with the Pixel 8 series, Google added the Magic Editor, which uses generative AI to make edits that wouldn’t be possible otherwise. There are also tools like Photo Unblur, which is great for old photographs and enhancing images that were captured with low-quality sensors.

Read more
The Honor V Purse is the most unusual foldable I’ve ever used
Honor V Purse with its chain case.

The novelty factor of a foldable gets me excited every time I use a fold or flip phone. After all, there’s a big screen that’s being halved to fit inside my pocket, and depending on the phone, sometimes it’s made of thin glass! While foldables brought the fun factor back to phones, the Honor V Purse is bringing the same fun/exciting feeling to foldables.

I didn’t think things could get any better, but then I unboxed the Honor V Purse — and it has exceeded my expectations. It’s a reverse book-style foldable, meaning there’s a large portion of the screen that’s always exposed. I expected it to wear out within weeks, but I’ve had the device for a few months now, and after using it as my primary phone for three weeks, I’m amazed at how it has held up. It's durable, unique, and one of the most unusual folding phones available in 2024.
The Honor V Purse is one of a kind

Read more
YouTuber MKBHD says this new gadget is the worst he’s ever reviewed
A person wearing the Humane AI Pin.

YouTuber Marques Brownlee has taken a look at Humane's new AI Pin and described it as “the worst product I’ve ever reviewed.” However, he did have a couple of positives things to say about it, too.

For those not in the know, the Humane AI Pin looks like a strapless Apple Watch that you pin to your shirt. It deploys artificial intelligence and is supposed to one day replace your smartphone. But it has no display as such, with most of the interaction prompted by voice and coming via an interface that’s projected onto your palm.

Read more