Verizon Wireless is pulling its usual lock-down policy, which is a darn shame considering the carrier has just committed to unlocking GPS chips in its smartphone lineup to be compatible with third-party navigation programs. This time, however, the carrier is targeting the revenue-rich application stores like App World for BlackBerry and Marketplace for Mobile on Windows Phone. Reportedly, the carrier is denying Microsoft, Research in Motion and Google for Android to pre-install the vendors’ own applications storefront, stressing instead on the carrier’s own version.

The news come a few days after an analyst from Sanford Bernstein valued the iPhone’s App Store at netting $150 million per year in the 30% that Apple charges developers for bandwidth, pushing updates out to the smartphone, and processing credit card transactions. Hopefully, there is a reason more than sheer greed that Microsoft and its competitors are denied.

Verizon is still allowing Marketplace for Mobile to be installed by the users later, but the application and its icon won’t be pre-installed when the consumers receive the phone.

(via: Engadget Mobile and Phone Arena for App Store revenue)