Some Unlocked GSM Pre's Unable To Access App Catalog After webOS 1.3.1 Update
As it turns out, Palm Profiles are associated with the country and wireless service provider of the SIM card in the phone when you create your profile. It also happens that apps are only certified for Germany, Ireland, Spain and the UK. The result? If you've activated your phone and set your Palm Profile up while having a non-O2 SIM card installed, you're going to get the "App Catalog unavailable" message appears any time you go to shop for apps.
There is good news for those of you who have been brave enough to import that Pre with the QWERTZ keyboard, as a Palm employee detailed a workaround in its support forums. It's a bit convoluted, and it requires that you have access to a SIM card from an O2 network that sells the Pre and that you create a totally new Palm Profile:
To fix the problem, create a new Palm profile using a SIM card from a wireless service provider in Germany, Ireland, Spain, or the UK. Turn off your phone, insert the new SIM card, turn the phone back on, and perform a partial erase. After the phone restarts, create a new Palm profile. Once the profile is created, shut down the phone, insert your original SIM card, and restart the phone. Log in the the newly created profile. Open the App Catalog to see available apps.
That's a lot of hassle to be able to download apps again (still no purchasing for Europe), but that's sometimes the life of folks who like to import exotic technology. We wouldn't expect any kind of a "fix" on the issue beyond the workaround already put forward by Palm, since it has more to do with the fundamental way they've chosen to deploy the phone in Europe and the App Catalog than it does with being any kind of oversight.
Thanks to Patrick for the heads up!
