Verizon Wireless blocks Google Wallet payment app from new Nexus ‘superphone’

Verizon Wireless is blocking Google’s new flagship phone from supporting Google’s attempt to make the smartphone the credit card of the future. In blocking the Google Wallet software from running on the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Verizon Wireless said that it was waiting to provide a wallet application until it can offer “the best security and user experience.”

Verizon and rivals AT&T and T-Mobile USA are part of a consortium called ISIS that is planning its own payment system. Google confirmed that Verizon had asked it not to include the wallet function in the Galaxy Nexus phone, due out soon. The new smartphone is the latest iteration of the Nexus line, which showcases new features and capabilities for phones running Google’s Android software. In this case, the phone is the first to run a new version of Android, dubbed “Ice Cream Sandwich.”