By Scott Moritz - Dec 6, 2011 9:25 PM GMT+0700
Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. wireless carrier, blocked Google Inc.’s mobile-payment system from the new Galaxy Nexus smartphone, citing security concerns.
Verizon Wireless, co-owned by Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD), is working to have “the best security and user experience,” Jeffrey Nelson, a company spokesman, said today in an e-mailed statement. The Basking Ridge, New Jersey- based carrier will allow the Google service, called Google Wallet, “when those goals are achieved.”
The move comes amid intensifying competition between services that let consumers pay for goods with mobile phones. Verizon Wireless and partners AT&T Inc. (T) and T-Mobile USA plan to invest more than $100 million in a joint venture called Isis, which competes with the Google service, people with knowledge of the project said in August.
The Galaxy Nexus, made by Samsung Electronics Co. (005930), runs the latest version of Google’s Android software and will go on sale this month. It is Verizon Wireless’s first Android phone that uses a near-field communications, or NFC, chip that -- through Google Wallet -- can transmit payment information to store registers.
Verizon’s Isis venture plans to start its service in a few markets next year.
Representatives for Mountain View, California-based didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment.
To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Moritz in New York at smoritz6@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net
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