Verizon is blocking Google Wallet on Galaxy Nexus

http://9to5google.com/2011/12/05/verizon-is-blocking-google-wallet-likely-because-of-isis-partnership/

by zeppelin_7 • 15 years ago

82 33 15 years ago

cheald• 15 years ago

"The reason Verizon has chosen to kick Wallet out of the device is likely because of their recent creation of a new mobile payment project called ISIS. ISIS not only features Verizon, but also is a partnership with AT&T and T-mobile to build a new mobile payment network much like Wallet. It is supposed to roll out in 2012."

Surely the FTC won't let that stand on anticompetitive grounds?

nknight• 15 years ago

Businesses are not under a general obligation to facilitate the activities of their competitors. Nor is Verizon a monopoly in the usual sense, upon which special obligations might be placed.

Unless some sort of settlement were reached, you'd basically have to prove ISIS is a "contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce" (15 U.S.C. §1). That would be an expensive, multi-year legal battle by itself, and may or may not succeed. Then there's the question of what to actually do about it, which isn't necessarily going to be "oh, just allow other payment providers".

wmf2• 15 years ago

The 700 MHz spectrum that Verizon uses for their LTE network has neutrality restrictions, including "Consumers should be able to download and utilize any software applications, content, or services they desire". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_2008_wireless_spe... Blocking an app would appear to violate that rule.

However, Google may be "voluntarily" witholding Wallet on the Galaxy Nexus to avoid regulatory problems.

atambo• 15 years ago

Is this why the galaxy nexus was delayed for so long?

leoh• 15 years ago

In the future, will we carry only our phones?

cbs• 15 years ago

Probably not. Phones have been great at adding more functionality, and they're really good at serving use cases of people who wouldn't have ever carried around a dedicated device before the phones supported it. But for the kind of people who were serious enough about something to carry around a dedicated device to do it, I've seen that phones have a hard time replacing it outright.

Think of pictures, phones are convenient and take good-enough pictures for most people, but they're still not a replacement for anything but the cheapest of digital cameras. Anyone goes somewhere planning to take pictures will bring a dedicated device.

For me its music. I tried listened to music with my phone exclusively for a few months, and it hurt, I've gone back to my mp3 player. I wanted to like my phone for music, I really did.

As much as I would like it to be true, the economics don't make me think there will be many fields where phones are going to be more than wide-breadth shallow-depth devices, especially when hardware is the limiting factor.

jinushaun• 15 years ago

I knew a Verizon Nexus couldn't be trusted! No wonder they didn't get the Nexus One, or the original iPhone. I'll be getting my Galaxy Nexus in GSM flavor, unlocked.

plessthanpt05• 15 years ago

indeed... don't plan on using g'wallet myself, but this why i thank my fu@#ing stars that t-mobile isn't being eaten by at&t (nothing against at&t here really, but t-mobile has a pretty decent track record for being "friendly" on these types of things).

abraham• 15 years ago

"compatible with the Nexus S 4G by Google, available on Sprint"

It is Google's choice to currently keep Wallet limited to the S 4G on Sprint and without any actual evidence at all to support that Verizon is actively blocking Wallet this article is just that. Speculation.

http://www.google.com/wallet/faq.html

danilocampos• 15 years ago

So we've got two competing things we could believe here:

- Google said "Eh, you know, I think that I only want this strategic product I've been talking about forever on a smaller carrier, and not the biggest carrier in America. It's not like a payments system benefits from a network effect anyway."

- Verizon, famous for gimping core features like Bluetooth to protect their shitty ringtone business, said "Hmm. Okay, let's just switch this competing service off... aaaand, we're done." And then Google's like, "Oh. Fuck. Well let's be sure and spin this in a way that doesn't make us look like complete eunuch clownshoes."

I mean, obviously there are further alternatives. But absent additional evidence, I like the one that's most consistent with existing patterns of behavior.

alapshah• 15 years ago

Absolutely. Sprint chose Google wallet over ISIS: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2385986,00.asp

w1ntermute• 15 years ago

No doubt a 3rd party mod will be out within days that rectifies this.

wizard_2• 15 years ago

I'm an avid fan of hacking our own phones and being able to run what I want on them. But I'll be keeping 3rd party apps far away from my google wallet.

bostonvaulter2• 15 years ago

I think the parent was talking more about mods (like CyanogenMod), not 3rd party wallet apps.

darklajid3• 15 years ago

Got root? MarketEnabler [1] solves most totally batshit crazy braindead regional and/or carrier restrictions.

Discovered it in a time at which I cared about G+, but couldn't install/update it anymore after moving to IL (by now it's available here as well as far as I'm told, but meh..).

1: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.notenking.mf&f...

darklajid3• 15 years ago

I hate regional and/or carrier limitations and branding. With a passion.

That said: Was anyone actually excited about Google Wallet? I have to admit that I haven't found a use case for NFC that doesn't directly turn me off yet. Where would that work? How would that replace any current purchase (I mean - realistically) and gain adoption?

It immediately reminded me of the chips on our direct debit cards we have in a number of EU countries. You can load money "on your card" on most ATM and for a while everyone tried to use that as the next way to pay, the big innovation. Hell, McDonald's let you pay like that.

Before the trend died, quickly. At least in DE that sort of stuff is dead for all I know. Why NFC? Why combining your wallet and phone?

(Edit: The question above was genuine: I fail to understand why anyone would be excited about NFC in general but more so about Google Wallet. Downvote all you want, but please consider educating me with a comment as well, explaining why and how I'm wrong)

nodata3• 15 years ago

I see NFC as potentially good for profiles. At work? The NFC token on your desk is noticed by your phone and switches to your work profile. In the car? Bluetooth and GPS on. Leaving the car? Turn it off and remember where you left your car. Etc.

darklajid3• 15 years ago

So - that's already something that wifi or bluetooth could do for you, right? With 'Locale' or similar applications?

Granted, those options would draw more power. On the other hand: As far as I understand NFC is _really_ limited in terms of distance between the endpoints.

Wouldn't your examples require you to place the phone in a specific place in the car/at work? Like (for the car) one of these mounts for example?

Your examples wouldn't work for me at least, because the phone's in my pocket or ~somewhere~, not really in a place that is carefully planned for. You seem to want a general version of the Palm/HP Touchstone it seems, albeit without charging?

e402• 15 years ago

I see NFC as potentially good for profiles.

There's an app I use called "Settings Profile" which works wonderfully. I have a cell tower event that knows when I'm at work and switches to my work profile (lower volume ringing, different ring tone, etc). It doesn't use just one tower, it uses 3, so it's very specific to the region of my office.

It has a lot of other features. For example, when I plug into power, I turn on Wi-Fi, which causes my podcasts to start downloading (only happens on Wi-Fi).

The other thing I do: mute my ringer during scheduled meetings.

This app is in my top 5.

18pfsmt2• 15 years ago

Your anecdote about adoption of chip+PIN+stored_value in the EU is interesting, and we still don't really have chip+PIN (ISO 7816) in the US. However, you might be surprised that in the US we do have contactless POS devices (NFC-ISO 18092, ISO 14443) at McDonalds, Jack in the Box, most transit terminals, Regal theaters, 7-elevens, among other locations.

The idea of having one chip that resides in your phone is appealing compared to carrying several cards with embedded ICs. And, since the US has skipped the whole chip+PIN phase, this will be the technology that brings IC-based payments to the US.

Imagine landing at an airport, virtually checking-in, and having your hotel room key sent to your phone which can then be used to open your hotel room without ever going to a front desk. That is something a simple card can't do.

megablast• 15 years ago

This is the exact sort of reason people mock Android's claim to being Open.

Cherian_Abraham• 15 years ago

I follow mobile wallets very closely, and the Carriers closing ranks is a real issue. Google's hands are not clean either. Case in point: Google has not enabled the API to access the secure element on the Google Nexus One (the only phone that has already been rolled out and been around). And secondly, it has not enabled SWP (Single Wire Protocol) that allows for a Secure Element in the SIM on the Nexus One (which would allow Carriers to put a SE SIM on the phone). Google has not yet opted to provide a third party api for others to integrate with the wallet.

Despite Google's stumble, Carriers is a whole another breed. Isis sounds more and more looks to copy Microsoft in its heydays.(back in the days of Netscape - NO alternate browser on my Operating System!). The carriers are also closing rank, in that they are pushing through the SIM based approach, across the board to the respective handset makers so that Google Wallet will be crippled on rollout.

All this crap, when there is a zero compelling value proposition exists, to both merchants and consumers, the two groups who must embrace NFC wallets for these two initiatives to make any money.

I cover these topics on my blog, but its easy to get the side of one's mouth foaming once you start talking about the missteps from all involved, so early in this game.

beastman82• 15 years ago

Don't you mean the Nexus S? N1 doesn't have NFC.

18pfsmt2• 15 years ago

About 5 years ago, we were told that the carriers were very concerned about simply introducing NFC technology on their phones, and that the impasse was due to the carriers and credit card companies being unable to agree on a revenue split. I believe the only non-carrier Isis partner is Discover Card, so that's how those negotiations turned out.

recoiledsnake• 15 years ago

>Isis sounds more and more looks to copy Microsoft in its heydays.(back in the days of Netscape - NO alternate browser on my Operating System!)

Huh what? Microsoft never blocked Netscape from being installed on the user's computer. It's Apple which prohibits installing browsers on iOS devices.

hexley• 15 years ago

s/browsers/rendering engines

apgwoz• 15 years ago

The taxi cab in NYC that I was in this morning had Google Wallet support. I've yet to see ISIS support anywhere.

Verizon is blocking Google Wallet on Galaxy Nexus

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