A few weeks back when Samsung announced the new Galaxy S6 line of phones, the devices came preloaded with a few Microsoft apps. For the Redmond based company, this was a big win to get Microsoft"s apps loaded onto one of the most popular brand of Android devices.
But if you live in the US and buy your phone from Verizon, you will find that these apps are not installed. If you buy the device from AT&T, it will not include OneDrive; devices from T-Mobile and Sprint have all the apps still installed.
When a carrier orders a phone from a company like Samsung, they can specify what software comes pre-loaded on the device. In this case, Verizon chose to not have the software installed (same with AT&T for OneDrive). The company is not blocking you from downloading the apps, so if you do buy a phone from one of these carriers, you can still grab the software from the Google Play store.
The removal of the apps is not a huge deal for most users as they will know how to get the apps from the store if needed but we would bet that Microsoft is a bit perturbed as Verizon is the largest carrier in the United States. Knowing this, it means millions of Galaxy S6"s that the company sells will not include the software which was likely part of the bargaining agreement that settled Microsoft and Samsung"s patent royalties dispute.
Thanks for the tip Jake!