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Verizon Businesses Cellphones Handhelds Software Wireless Networking

Verizon To Shut Down App Store By January 59

Posted by timothy from the dog-won't-hunt dept.
alphadogg writes "Verizon Wireless is closing down its app store by January next year, it said in a notice on its developer community portal. The operator said it will start removing in January the Verizon Apps application from all compatible Android and Research In Motion devices. It anticipates completing the process by March 27. The carrier's app store, launched in March 2010, has been overtaken by popular online app stores from tech companies like Google and RIM."
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Verizon To Shut Down App Store By January More

Verizon To Shut Down App Store By January

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  • And there was much rejoicing.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Indeed, perhaps I can finally set Google Nav to be the default and have the setting stick instead of constantly offering Verizon's pay service every time.

    • It's nice when a bloatware provider removes their own crap!

  • The new weakness of App Stores? (Score:3)

    by TaoPhoenix ( 980487 ) <TaoPhoenix@yahoo.com> on Tuesday November 06, 2012 @09:57AM (#41893459) Journal

    In the old days you just downloaded programs. Now they want to tie programs to App Stores. Except when they get grumpy because they're only 4th best, they shut down the App Stores leaving you with all the hardware locks and nowhere to go.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      The most popular app in the Verizon app store was the "App Store Map" which helped you find a different app store to shop in.

    • Re:The new weakness of App Stores? (Score:4, Informative)

      by Nerdfest ( 867930 ) on Tuesday November 06, 2012 @10:09AM (#41893625)

      On Android, you can still manually download and install software. Blackberry too, I believe.

    • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday November 06, 2012 @11:59AM (#41895107)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Whoa gramps! Don't grouse at everyone just because you missed your meds.

        Nurse!

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by EdIII ( 1114411 )

          and..... is grampa wrong here?

          We don't need to turn this into a war against Apple, but seriously, is he wrong?

          • Comment removed based on user account deletion

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

              No the war should be against the BUYERS of Apple products, those hipster douches that threw money at Apple, no matter how badly they got screwed on memory, and threw even more money at Apple for locked down apps.

              It is because of THEM that we are gonna end up ALL of us trapped in Apple walled gardens, because every other corp is gonna look at Apple's financials and say "Well people seem willing to pay out the ass to make them their masters, if that is what they want then by God we'll take control away from t

      • The IOS and Mac OS X set of products I have are the most useful tool I have ever owned. if I have to pay a little more and tolerate some annoyances that's still true. Do I wish some things were different? Of course. But in many small ways it just makes my life a little easier and a little more pleasant. I've been programming computers since 1979 [oldcomputers.net], and this era feels like a whole new world.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by EdIII ( 1114411 )

          Well Pete, enjoy your world while you have it.

          That world with disappearing freedoms. All of that convenience you have obtained was paid for in your freedom, and the freedom of the next generation.

          If you have been programming since 1979, you should realize that people have a poor understanding of what cyberspace is, and how progressively, it affects us more and more in real life, and soon freedom in cyberspace will be indistinguishable from freedom in real life.

          People will understand that far too late. They

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by HiThere ( 15173 )

        I'm not really certain that if Apple hadn't invented it, nobody would have. Debian has had it's repositories from long before Apple. Red Hat sort of copied Debian's usage, and maintains a more limited set of repositories. And I think most major Linux distributions were doing that before Apple decided to make a proprietary version of it.

        So the choice is: Do you want to pay a corporation extra to censor the apps that you use? (Yeah, censor is a loaded word. But that's essentially what they are doing...a

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by EdIII ( 1114411 )

          Do you blame a 3 year old for dropping food on the floor and not cleaning it up right away? Of course not.

          I have a hard time blaming most people, because they lack the requisite sophistication to understand Apple products are highly detrimental to them in the long term.

          They don't even understand enough about it to make philosophical or sociopolitical arguments about the pitfalls of such control, DRM, anonymity, privacy, etc.

          That includes most developers as well...

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by wannabegeek2 ( 1137333 )

        Right now I could use some Mod points. Mod hairyfeet up and Insightful ladies and gentlemen.

        You might not like what he's saying, but he's right, and computer technology is not the only industry going this way. Aviation is too.

  • In January of 2013, Verizon will start the process of removing the Verizon Apps application from ALL compatible Android and Research in Motion devices.

    They can do that? :-/

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by vlm ( 69642 )

      Depends how they put it there in the first place.

      If its part of the ROM like the facebook app on my phone, just release a new ROM without it and it disappears. I sincerely wish this would happen...

      On the other hand, if it was merely downloaded, they can't easily wipe it. I'm told google kicked the developer of "amuse" out of the program and removed the app from the store so it can't be downloaded... although my installs on devices continue to work, I can't install "amuse" on new devices (And I don't use i

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Do remember that they don't mean "all the verizon apps". They just mean a specific icon "Verizon Apps" that launches the Verizon app store. They won't be deleting the horrendous load of crap that all the other verizon apps are. They'll get rid of those other apps at the same time as they let you use an unlocked CDMA + LTE phone on their network...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Bodero ( 136806 )

        They'll get rid of those other apps at the same time as they let you use an unlocked CDMA + LTE phone on their network

        So, you mean, now? [engadget.com]

  • can't wait.

  • Hopefully they'll pull the app ASAP from our phones! I hate that Motorola and Verizon force their crapware on our phones.
    Yeah, I know, root your phone, blah blah blah....

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by HiThere ( 15173 )

      A better answer than "root your phone" is to get a phone that's unlocked. I hear Nexus is a good choice, though I'll admit I haven't yet got a phone with even a GPS, much less a smartphone.

      (I'm a cheapskate, and I also live in an area with lousy coverage due to hilly terrain. For me those fancy phones would be a lousy investment with not much real advantage. So you might want to listen to someone else's advice, if your situation is different. I *am* starting to look at Nexus, though.)

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by EdIII ( 1114411 )

      Even after rooting your phone, eliminating all that crapware is non-trivial.

      Quite a bit of instructions and know-how to just to eliminate an app that seems to be more protected than the Pentagon.

  • Half the apps are not removable without rooting. No, I don't want a Blockbuster app, Let's Golf 2(barbie?), NFL Mobile, Verizon's inferior Navigaor, or any of the other 8 apps you're forcing me to look at!
    • Yeah, its a lot of fun to go down the list of apps you'd like to remove note how the remove button is grayed out.
    • It would be better if they just changed the ROM so you could unistall them. Then people would complain about losing something they paid for.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by kryliss ( 72493 )

      When I upgraded to ICS I was able to remove NFL Mobile, Let's Golf and Blockbuster.. I believe I had to remove updates first though.

    • Root your phone and download Gemini App Manager, it'll let you "freeze" the apps so they can't launch, including carrier-marked "system" apps.

      Yes, this will prevent VZNavigator from launching every time you plug your phone into a holster (this saves me like 5 seconds every time I get in my car).

      You can outright uninstall them but that may make future OTA updates fail to work correctly; if you freeze them, before you accept an update, unfreeze them so the update can find them, then freeze them again.

  • I didn't even know they had an app store, I guess that's because "store" implies buying and I wouldn't pay for the crap they offer.

    One of the first things I tried to do with my phone was get rid of the preloaded stuff they put on it, I didn't want to root it so they had to stay. I can't think of one of them is even half as good as the Google default ones or the vast majority of the ones available in play store.

    I don't need the space, but I'd love to see these disappear from my phone, even if I have to take

  • We still need to get the carriers to remove apps they force on the phones (and provide no way to uninstall without the warranty voiding rooting of the device), we will have made progress.

  • ... for all you corporate monopolist wannabes: Stick to doing a few things well.

    Microsoft, are you listening? [slashdot.org]

  • from RIM? Where?

  • Verizon has an app store? I never use other Verizon apps because every time I start one it gives me scary boilerplate clickthrus of data usage additional costs if I exceed my cap. G'bye, you scared me.

    I find it humorous Verizon, the data network provider, feels a need to disclaim this possibility against accusations they might be deliberately running up data usage because getting you to exceed the cap is a desired state for you to be in in their business model.

    I'm mad enough I have useless Verizon bloatwa

  • Verizon has an app store?

  • What about their user?

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