Earlier this month we reported that those who had imported the SIM-lock free German Pre for use on a non-O2 network were unable to access the App Catalog after updating to webOS 1.3.1. We hypothesized that Palm wouldn’t provide a remedy to the issue other than a rather convoluted work-around involving multiple Palm profiles and SIM cards, but it appears that Palm has been addressing the issue on their side, as a number of importers have been reporting that they once again have access to the Catalog.
The issue has to do with the way the GSM Pre is activated, and the way in which applications are certified for certain countries. If you were to activate your imported Pre with a SIM card from a Swedish network for example, you wouldn’t be unable to access the App Catalog.
Having access to the Catalog is important for all webOS users, and hopefully bringing paid applications to markets outside of the US is a top priority for Palm in 2010 as they expand the number of countries and carriers selling itsproduct.
Importers: can you access the App Catalog again?
[via Palminfocenter]