By Depending on who you are, this is good and bad news. Let’s get the news out there first: Verizon supposedly won’t be offering a few of their staple apps for the Galaxy Tab at launch. The collection includes Skype Mobile – a once-Verizon exclusive – NFL Mobile, and V Cast Videos. It’s obviously bad news if these apps are important to you, but it’s good news if you’re someone who hates bloatware as this confirms at least three of the apps they like to preinstall won’t be present.
There was no reason given on why these particular apps won’t be available, but a couple of things could make sense. For one, licensing issues could play a part in all of this. Particular partners and content providers may only be peachy with their wares being available on actual phones. Another likely scenario would be technical issues.
What I think it could be, though, is that Verizon wants to customize these apps to look nice on tablets. Whether or not that means overhauled interfaces for some or all of these apps, I don’t know (I couldn’t know, this is just speculation), but I wouldn’t bet against it.
Being the perfect candidate for video-calling with its front-facing VGA camera, I could see Verizon wanting to get some video chat capabilities thrown onto their Skype app, as well. We know Skype’s working to add that functionality to their app thanks to the recent demand for phones with front-facing cameras and the growing popularity of video-calling. What’s your take?
[via Engadget]
NFL Mobile and Skype definitely ARE available for the device. I have used both apps on a Verizon Galaxy Tab.
@Todd, I think the article means they’re not going to be preinstalled on the tablet upon first boot up.
@Todd “At launch”. Could still turn out that they won’t be available once it actually launches. But this is all just a rumor anyway, so I can’t be certain.
@Quentyn touché, the apps may not be available when the device actually launches. They are available as of today. Though in all fairness, you are correct, it is still pre-launch.