The chains of Verizon

Earlier today Engadget reported that the Motorola RAZR would be shipping with an unlocked bootloader, but there's a catch. It will be the carrier that would ultimately decide whether the bootloader stays unlocked more specifically I'm talking about Verizon Wireless. This got me thinking if Verizon decided that it's in their customers "best interest" to have the bootloader locked on the RAZR will they arrive to the same conclusion for the Galaxy Nexus?

If you recall the Nexus One, made by HTC, was released for all major carriers in the U.S. except for one, Verizon. Instead Verizon released the HTC Incredible which was the equivalent to the Nexus One. Now I know that the Incredible didn't have a locked bootloader and was fairly easy to root however it still wasn't the Nexus One.

My fear is that the same fate will fall upon the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Verizon will do something to keep the phone locked down in someway be it locked bootloader or removing the option to remove/hide per-installed apps. Now I realize that the Galaxy Nexus is not made by Motorola, but the chance that Verizon will demand  and Sammy caving is there.

Verizon hasn't released a vanilla Android phone since 2009 and nothing has hinted that they will begin anytime soon. Is this a sign that Verizon is beginning to ease on their restrictions? I doubt it, but I really hope that Google and Verizon play nice together on this one because I'm getting tired of using the Motorola Droid 1.

Source: Engadget, 
Picure: Tech Crunch