Verizon spokeswoman Debra Lewis was quoted as saying, “We have no plans to do that. Been there. Done that.” Interestingly enough the reporter who broke the rumor, The Information’s Amir Efrati, tweeted that he and The Information are still standing by their report 100%. Given that Verizon has outright denied those claims, we’re not sure how Efrati is still so confident about his report.
A possibility is that Verizon might have plans of their own which are similar to what Efrati had reported, but the carrier is only denying what was in the report as opposed to acknowledging that they have something in the works. Of course this is only speculation but for now, we guess we’ll just have to take Verizon’s word for it.
Like we mentioned earlier, this isn’t Verizon’s first time launching an app store of their own. Previously the company had launched Verizon Apps which they then shut down last year. It is understandable why Verizon could be interested in an app store of their own as it provides a lot of revenue from both paid apps and in-app purchases, not to mention setting up carrier billing would make it a huge incentive for customers to purchase apps through their store as well.