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Palm App Catalog Bites the Dust

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Got a Palm Pixi or Pre through Verizon Wireless? You might want to hold off downloading any new apps for a while as it appears a bug has caused many Pixi and Pre users to lose access to their applications. I noticed the problem this morning as I was trying to install Evernote on my wife’s Pixi. The app downloaded as normal but would not install. After the failed install, access to all other downloaded applications was crippled. I contacted Verizon Wireless customer support and they were able to replicate the problem exactly as I had experienced. The VZW customer service rep transferred me to Palm tech support who took all of my information, said a higher level of technical support was needed, and they would be calling me with a fix in 24 hrs.

It should be noted that my wife’s Palm Pixi is 100% pure stock and all applications had previously been downloaded through Palm’s App Catalog. I tried to reboot, battery pull, and “Erase Apps & Data” under the reset menu, but all of these options failed to resolve the problem. In fact, all of the applications remained on the phone even after the “Erase Apps & Data” option had been executed. Currently, the phone is able to be used with voice, data, and text messaging, but all of the downloaded applications are inoperable.

HP surely isn’t happy that this bug exists and appears to be keeping pretty hush-hush on the matter. Not a good start for the newly acquired Palm.

Here is a link to the forums of PreCentral and other users reporting the same problem.

More information will be posted as it becomes available.  Anyone else experiencing the same problem or are you still all systems go?

Update: Apparently there is a temporary workaround if you change the date to back to April.  This fix remains unconfirmed.

Update 2: I received a phone call today from Palm tech support stating that the issue has officially been resolved. No reason for the problem was provided, but Palm encouraged me to call should I require further assistance.

5 Comments

5 Comments

  1. Strodtbeck

    05/15/2010 at 10:42 am

    Really want to see Palm/HP with WebOS really do something but the bad news just keeps on coming. . .

  2. Oliver

    05/15/2010 at 3:39 pm

    The post’s headings seems a bit dramatic, doesn’t it? Biting the dust to me implies it’s dead for good.

    As for HP, why do you expect them to comment on this? While they have agreed to buy HP, the deal (AFAIK) hasn’t closed, and Palm continues to be an independent company where HP has NO say whatsoever yet.

    • Matthew Dillon

      05/15/2010 at 4:44 pm

      @Oliver: Not sure it’s a bit dramatic. The Palm App Catalog has been out of commission since early this morning and no official word/fix has been offered from Palm, HP or wireless service providers. Although it will likely come back, it has crippled users applications. After just messing with the Pixi a few moments ago, I was able to successfully install a few programs (Facebook, Weather Channel), but others are still not working (Feeds Free). The phone also still displays the Google “Syncing account. . .” notification. I have not set the date back, although it is reported to temporarily remedy the problem. I have yet to be contacted by Palm technical support.

      You are correct that HP has not closed the deal although all wheels are set in motion. It appears that they will close in July. Perhaps you are correct that it would be beneficial if Palm (rather than HP) would officially comment on the matter. It seems as though they are trying to downplay the incident by not notifying users of this bug (keep in mind their products are set to launch on AT&T tomorrow). Palm would benefit from a Toyota approach of openness given the problems that they have been having marketing their products.

  3. Oliver

    05/15/2010 at 8:40 pm

    So when GBM’s forums (or was it the entire site?) had an outage not too long ago, you called it “biting the dust”, too? It will “likely” come back? I think you can be 99.99999% sure it will come back. A better headline that doesn’t imply the permanent demise of the App Catalog and at the same time warns users would be something like “App Catalog bug: Don’t install new apps on Verizon WebOS devices for now”.

    And once again you say “no word from HP” — why the heck should they provide you with an update on an outage of a service/site owned/operated by an unrelated company? That’s just not how it works in business. The two companies are completely independent at this time. In fact, if companies applying for a merger are competitors, they have to continue to compete until the merger/acquisition closes to avoid the wrath of the DOJ.

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