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Verizon To Shut Down App Store By January

Posted by timothy on 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."

59 comments

  1. Tagged it "sudden outbreak of common sense" by 21mhz · · Score: 0

    Oh, and frost pisst.

    --
    My exception safety is -fno-exceptions.
  2. Yay! by UninformedCoward · · Score: 2

    And there was much rejoicing.

    1. Re:Yay! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      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.

    2. Re:Yay! by PeeweeJD · · Score: 1

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

  3. The new weakness of App Stores? by TaoPhoenix · · Score: 2

    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.

    --
    My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
    1. Re:The new weakness of App Stores? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      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.

    2. Re:The new weakness of App Stores? by Nerdfest · · Score: 3, Informative

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

    3. Re:The new weakness of App Stores? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In old days you downloaded sources and compiled them.

    4. Re:The new weakness of App Stores? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      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.

      That's not a new weakness, it's the old weakness of App Stores. Unfortunately, it's the entire premise upon which the "app" "ecosystem" business model is based.

      Stuff on the web is impermanent; it goes away when the someone forgets to renew the domain registration or when Geocities pulls the plug. Stuff on the cloud is even less permanent; it goes away when the developer ragequits. Stuff you've archived locally is as permanent as your backup strategy wants it to be.

      /gazes the contents of X:\ARCHIVED\WINSTALLERS\*.* and smiles contentedly
      //even if the 16-bit shareware "apps" now only run in DOSbox :)

    5. Re:The new weakness of App Stores? by Trilkin · · Score: 1

      Or if Jason Scott happens to get a hold of them and puts them on archive.org.

      --
      Nobody cares what the CAPTCHA for your post was.
    6. Re:The new weakness of App Stores? by Duhavid · · Score: 2

      And we liked it!

      --
      emt 377 emt 4
    7. Re:The new weakness of App Stores? by zlives · · Score: 3, Funny

      in the snow, uphill both ways?

    8. Re:The new weakness of App Stores? by hairyfeet · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Welcome to the future, or as we old greybeards call it "Hey remember when everything was locked down black boxes?" because we are doomed to repeat our history. Whether we like it or not, whether we protest it or not, the big megacorps have decided the days of standards and compatibility are OVER friends, its gonna be black boxes tied to appstores. Oh its gonna be great....for them. They control the hardware, they control the software, you are just a walking wallet and every single thing can have a dollar sign attached.

      And who do we have to blame for this? YOU, Apple fanboys I'm pointing a big fat finger right in your hipster faces. It is YOU that made Apple the biggest corp on the planet,even without the tax dodging, it is YOU that stood in lines like tickets to a rock concert just to get assraped on memory prices and peripherals, it is YOU that happily spent insane amounts of money in a locked down appstore. Thanks to YOU now every corp on the planet is gonna follow the Apple gameplan, so all we have is Apple and ersatz Apple, with everything locked down tighter than a nun's thighs.

      So when you complain about how all your devices are throwaway black boxes and appstores please be sure to bitchslap the hipster douche sitting next to you using the iPhone, because they ARE the ones to blame for this mess. Sorry if this is a little ranty but after living through the days of proprietary power supplies and RAM I really really REALLY hoped we would see an era of standards come about, instead the iSheep are gonna fuck us all, great job guys.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    9. Re:The new weakness of App Stores? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Kept warm by the heat of their maxed out CPUs...

    10. Re:The new weakness of App Stores? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You had snow? Such decadence! In my day we had to wait for comets to bring water to the primordial earth. (which had barely cooled from a ball of lava, by the way) Hell, even the moon was brand new.

    11. Re:The new weakness of App Stores? by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1

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

      Nurse!

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    12. Re:The new weakness of App Stores? by jdray · · Score: 1

      In Soviet Russia, source downloads you! In Korea, only old people download source!

      --
      The Spoon
      Updated 6/28/2011
    13. Re:The new weakness of App Stores? by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 1

      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, and this era feels like a whole new world.

    14. Re:The new weakness of App Stores? by HiThere · · Score: 1

      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...and not doing a really good job of.)

      I don't imagine that I'll ever be that enamored of an AppStore. And before blaming the AppStore customers, you might give some thought to blaming all the developers who headed for App development with $$ signs in their eyes. Each individual one is them is guiltier than any individual customer.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    15. Re:The new weakness of App Stores? by wannabegeek2 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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.

      --
      Never ascribe to malice or conspiracy that which can be adequately explained by ignorance or stupidity.
    16. Re:The new weakness of App Stores? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you can find it for download through other than an App store.

    17. Re:The new weakness of App Stores? by EdIII · · Score: 1

      Like?

      It's the one thing I truly love about Linux more than anything else. I can download the entire source for something like Asterisk, make changes (database field names that store passwords, etc.), and compile the program and run it.

      Nothing comes close to that feeling of freedom in computing.

    18. Re:The new weakness of App Stores? by EdIII · · Score: 1

      and..... is grampa wrong here?

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

    19. Re:The new weakness of App Stores? by EdIII · · Score: 2

      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 would never, ever, allow government or corporations to tell them what groceries they can buy, or what food they can cook in their kitchen, or what clothes they can wear, or what colors they can paint their bathroom walls.

      Telling them what to do on a device, and in cyberspace, is proving to be so much easier though isn't it?

      Old people like you rolling over and just letting it happen, and even worse, championing it, is an anathemato me. Sorry, but you should know better. A 19 year kid I can understand, but man that has been programming since 1979? Come on Pete. You have to do better than touting how shiny and nice the cage is.

    20. Re:The new weakness of App Stores? by EdIII · · Score: 1

      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...

    21. Re:The new weakness of App Stores? by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      Sorry if I made it sound like a war against Apple, its not, they have EVERY right to be as big a dicks as they want with their products.

      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 them too! Then they'll love us like they love Apple!"

      Now that shit is infecting every damned device like a bad case of the clap, I mean can anybody look at MSFT's recent moves and NOT think "They are trying to be the ersatz Apple" or even Linux with Canonical, yet another going appstores and tablet UIs, everyone is going to appstores and black boxes, and we know whom to blame, all those damned hipsters that paid those insane markups and bought apps out the ass just to show they can be as hip as their hipster douchey friends.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    22. Re:The new weakness of App Stores? by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      Actually they are doing it IRL too, not just cyberspace, which is why I have been saying for years "You better fight for the smokers! They are the canaries in the coal mine!" and sure enough we now have cities that make it illegal to smoke in your own home, or even on PUBLIC lands, and now we have states telling you how big a coke you can have and are talking about fat taxes and sweet taxes.

      Remember friend, the whole nanny state "we know what is best for you" NEVER gets smaller and more free, ALWAYS bigger and less free. This is what pissed me off about Apple users, St. Steve could fuck them 8 ways from Sunday and they'd call him a genius for doing it, now thanks to their slavish devotion to everything with a lower case i in front of it we are ALL gonna go back to early 80s black boxes. Great job guys.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    23. Re:The new weakness of App Stores? by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      Thanks but what I want even more than mod points is for people to wake the fuck up and see that this nanny state style control NEVER gets smaller and more free, ALWAYS tougher and less free, unless you actively fight it.

      Take the smokers. I warned people "They are the canaries in the coal mine, they will NOT stop with just them" but did they listen? Now you not only have cities where you can be arrested for smoking in your own home, but we have NY deciding how much soda your cup can have and states on the east coast talking about fat taxes and sugar taxes...for your own good of course, can't have you peasants making choices now can we?

      And considering how the Internet is one of the last truly free places on this planet this corporate control scares the fuck out of me, it seems like a race to see who can spy on you the worst, and control you the most, and the really scary part is the winner will have lines around the block as people pay to have their control taken away!

      I don't know about you but I REMEMBER the age of the black boxes in the early 80s and it was great...for the corps, they could just make you buy a new device because nothing was fixable, upgradeable, and each new version would be incompatible with the previous. But for the users it sucked big hairy balls. Now I sit here gobsmacked as these hipsters sell our future control away for shiny trinkets and a brand identity, it just blows my damned mind.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    24. Re:The new weakness of App Stores? by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      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 them too! Then they'll love us like they love Apple!"

      Except Apple wasn't the first.

      The first probably in modern use today is a toss-up between Xbox Live and Steam. Yes, Xbox Live - from the original Xbox. Though the first popular one would be Steam, then followed by Microsoft's reinvented Xbox Live (with the 360) and the PlayStation Network. All these walled gardens existed long before the App Store.

      We just don't think of them as walled gardens because they let in a VERY exclusive set of people before, but now they're opening up, but still require pre-approval.

      This was followed by carrier app stores (also existing before the App Store) which sold chintzy Java applets for featurephones.

      Compared to phone and console app stores, the App Store was one of the most free ones around - allowing anyone who could cough up $99 and a Mac to develop (at the request of said developers).

      And the problem is people are demanding app stores with vetted apps. Every time Google removes a wave of bad apps (ones that go infect your phone and all that), everyone calls for "vetted" apps. Or they go Amazon.

      The problem is users (note terminology) don't want to screw around with their phones, computers or tablets. Just use 'em and go. Just like they don't want to screw around with cars - they want to get in, twist the key and drive off.

      There will always be "admins" though - the fewer who want to screw around, but a much smaller base of users. Just like there's a bunch of mechanics who want to screw around with the workings of their cars.

      Hell, these days, installing an aftermarket radio is often a challenge as most of the space used up is by the nav system - there's no DIN slot anymore in most new vehicles. And most users seem happy with the factory radio - enough that the big stores are closing down their car audio departments because fewer and fewer vehicles are coming in for aftermarket radios.

      Anyhow, Verizon closing down is just the same as what happened with iTunes Music Store opened - a bunch of people saw how popular iTunes was and created their own music store. Dozens if not hundreds of people created music stores. And now most of them are closed - either due to the rise of popular streaming services, or most likely due to non-use. (Remember Napster? Wal-Mart? Plays-For-Sure?)

      When something popular comes out - people jump on the bandwagon and most people fail. Hell, how many tablets were announced after the iPad versus actually released? There were 40-odd at 2011 CES, most of which never saw the light of day.

      We had it happen with music stores, it happened for tablets, and now it's happening to app stores. Hell the set-top box market was similar (one of the few where Apple is just a bit-player) and we're left with far fewer ones. Heck, it happened with cars - when the car first came out everyone came out with their own cars, and now it's aggregated down to a few players. Electric cars seem to revive the whole "build your own car" thing.

  4. Woah! by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    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? :-/

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    1. Re:Woah! by vlm · · Score: 1

      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 it enough to care, much)

      --
      "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
    2. Re:Woah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      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...

    3. Re:Woah! by Bodero · · Score: 1

      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?

  5. good riddance by mapkinase · · Score: 1

    can't wait.

    --
    I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
  6. Good, Now Remove The App by RapidEye · · Score: 2

    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....

    --
    "Murderer? Well, that's a harsh word. I prefer to think of myself as a Mortality Technician."
    1. Re:Good, Now Remove The App by HiThere · · Score: 1

      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.)

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    2. Re:Good, Now Remove The App by EdIII · · Score: 1

      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.

  7. Maybe they'll remove some of the bloatware... by Kincaidia · · Score: 2

    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!

    1. Re:Maybe they'll remove some of the bloatware... by interval1066 · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
    2. Re:Maybe they'll remove some of the bloatware... by ZombieBraintrust · · Score: 1

      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.

    3. Re:Maybe they'll remove some of the bloatware... by kryliss · · Score: 2

      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.

      --
      --- If the bible proves the existence of God, then Superman comics prove the existence of Superman.
    4. Re:Maybe they'll remove some of the bloatware... by TheSpoom · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
      - E. Debs
    5. Re:Maybe they'll remove some of the bloatware... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here's a suggestion: if there's an app you don't want on your phone but can't remove, find it in the Google Play store, give it a one-star rating (the lowest possible), and explain in the comments section that you gave it a one-star rating because you can't uninstall it. If enough people do this, app developers will be reluctant to let carriers force their apps on customers.

    6. Re:Maybe they'll remove some of the bloatware... by X0563511 · · Score: 1

      Customer reviews on the app store don't matter if the user doesn't go to the app store to get it.

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
    7. Re:Maybe they'll remove some of the bloatware... by davewoods · · Score: 1

      Also, having seen this exact thing happen (Minus the whole "reluctant to let carriers force their apps" bit) since the first android phone, it does not matter. I used to go through all the garbage apps and rate 1* and complain about how it is not removable, but I stopped caring. Just get used to it being on your phone, just extra filler to make it look like you have more apps than you do.

  8. Verizon has an app store? by dsvick · · Score: 2

    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 it in to the Verizon store, I'd go in a heartbeat

  9. Good first step but... by tatman · · Score: 1

    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.

    --
    I've always said English was my second language. Had Romeo and Juliet been written in C, I might have understood it.
  10. ProTip ... by PPH · · Score: 1

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

    Microsoft, are you listening?

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  11. popular online app stores by MoronGames · · Score: 1

    from RIM? Where?

    --
    hey!
  12. Lost app licenses? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What about the poor souls that bought apps from Verizon? Right now when I switch/upgrade phones I can re-download all of my purchased apps onto the new phone. Are the users app licenses going to be transferred to the native app stores for their phones OS?

    1. Re:Lost app licenses? by swd120 · · Score: 1

      That's what you get for buying apps from Verizon

    2. Re:Lost app licenses? by lister+king+of+smeg · · Score: 1

      they will stay on you phone until you uninstall them after that they are gone, just like on PC's when you lose the install disk to you software.

      --
      ---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
  13. What about the non-removable apps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What about the non-removable apps that were forced on Verizon customers such as CityID, VZ Navigator, etc?

    It sounds like many Verizon customers will be walking around with unsupported Verizon apps that they cannot use, cannot update, and cannot delete.

    What's worse than Crapware? Dead Crapware that can't be removed.

  14. Its a start. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now if I could only figure out how to get rid of alll the other god damn verizon apps that came on my phone I cant seem to get rid of Ill be happy.

    I love the service with verizon but god damned if the shit they put on their phones isnt annoying and their prices too high.

  15. And nothing of value was lost by MetalliQaZ · · Score: 1

    (obligatory)

    --
    "Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
  16. i didn't know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Verizon had an app store. When I got my android phone earlier this year the only market pre installed was google's.

    __
    posting ac due mod points

  17. A horse designed by a business committee by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    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 bloatware I cannot shut off that I never use and nickle-dimes my limited 384 MB down to about 90 mb free running with "nothing on".

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  18. Huh? by tedhiltonhead · · Score: 0

    Verizon has an app store?

  19. But... by coinreturn · · Score: 1

    What about their user?