Verizon has finally announced that the Galaxy Nexus will be getting the much-awaited Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update. The Jelly Bean update will be rolled out to the carrier's customers over-the-air (OTA) in phases.

Google announced its latest OS, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, in June and released the update for the unlocked GSM Galaxy Nexus a few weeks later in July. Earlier this month, carrier Sprint's version of the Galaxy Nexus received the 146MB update, and now Verizon follows suit.

"Verizon Wireless is pleased to announce a new software upgrade, SW Version JRO03O, for your Galaxy Nexus by Samsung. This update includes an upgrade to the Android Operating System (Jelly Bean). Verizon Wireless and Samsung encourage you to take advantage of this upgrade," states the official Verizon announcement.

Samsung's Galaxy is the first smartphone on Verizon that will be upgraded from Ice Cream Sandwich to the Jelly Bean operating system (OS). Even though Verizon users have had to wait nearly three months before the update made it to the Galaxy Nexus, they are better off this time round as the previous ICS update took five months before it made it to the device.

The press release indicates that the "software upgrade will be pushed out in phases over Wi-Fi only" for a limited period. Since the update is rolling out in phases, only a subset of users will be receiving it each day over the next few weeks. Once a user is eligible for the update, they will receive a pop-up notification on their smartphone, prompting them to begin the download. Alternately, users can check the "About Phone" section on their device, then click on "System Updates" to look for any alerts.

For step-by-step instructions on how to perform the download, users can visit this link.