BLACK FRIDAY: Galaxy Nexus Release Date On or After Black Friday?

Tweet

One of the hot topics of this week is the U.S. launch of the Galaxy Nexus. The Android handset supposed to offer a pure version of Ice Cream Sandwich was rumored to be launched in the U.S. right after the release of the iPhone 4S in order for Google and Samsung to better fight Apple’s latest iOS smartphone.

The Galaxy Nexus was initially said to be launched on November 3. Then a different leak suggested the phone will hit stores on November 10. Yesterday we heard for the first time that the European Galaxy Nexus release, scheduled for November 17, will precede the U.S. roll out.

We speculated at the time that maybe Verizon wants to space out the launches of its next upcoming Android smartphones, the Motorola Droid RAZR, the HTC Rezound and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, a move that seems more than logical at least from Verizon’s point of view. We then concluded that Verizon may be scheduling the latest Nexus for a release date closer to Black Friday. It looks like we were right, but, and hopefully you’re sitting down for this, as Verizon may launch the Android 4.0 device only after Black Friday.

Verizon is still silent when it comes to all matters regarding the Galaxy Nexus. The carrier did officially announce that it will carry the handset, but it never specified how much it will cost or when it will be released. Unfortunately for buyers that want to get the handset as soon as possible, Verizon isn’t as eager to launch it. It’s clearly a problem with the carrier here, isn’t it, folks? After all, various European markets will get the phone starting with November 17.

Sure some may speculate that the fact that Verizon’s Galaxy Nexus is a LTE device is to blame for the delays. After all we’ve seen other LTE smartpone headed to Verizon get postponed (HTC Thunderbolt or Motorola Droid Bionic), but the fact remains Big Red isn’t willing to share any details regarding its Galaxy Nexus launch plans.

The image above shows us Verizon’s advertising plans for the near future. These include various campaigns for the Droid RAZR, the HTC Rezound and the Apple iPhone. But the Samsung Holiday Portfolio (with Galaxy Nexus) promo is scheduled to start only after the Black Friday weekend, which suggests the carrier may only launch the device at some point between November 25-28.

On the other hand considering yesterday’s reports that said the phone will land on Verizon after November 17, it would make sense to see it in stores at least a week later after that date, especially considering that the Rezound may launch on November 14, at least according to the image above.

But what about other U.S. carriers? Verizon isn’t the exclusive Samsung and Google partner in this case, so what are other carriers waiting for?

Let’s hear what you think about this almost confirmed delay/launch date?