Please bring paid apps to Bell Canada

[Andreas]

Atleast you guys got some apps. Right after launch in Europe in late october I could access the catalogue. Number of apps kept growing until New Years Eve, bam no apps at all and its been like that for month soon.

[Harnoy]

Originally Posted by Andreas

Atleast you guys got some apps. Right after launch in Europe in late october I could access the catalogue. Number of apps kept growing until New Years Eve, bam no apps at all and its been like that for month soon.

Well that really does suck. However, on the positive side of things, you do have an official Palm announcement saying that the paid app catalogue will be available in Europe shortly. (And in reality the apps that are, or were, available in the beta catalogue are mostly junk...with only a couple of decent ones)

[Harnoy]

Originally Posted by hatchettjack

well you say need as in right now.. if thats the case then i would look for a phone that had them readily available, wouldnt you

Go and read my post (# 35), read it carefully.....

[hatchettjack]

Originally Posted by Harnoy

Go and read my post (# 35), read it carefully.....

i hear what your saying, but the fact of the matter is the phone you bought didnt have what you wanted, and you bought this fone anyway on promises not written in stone.... which tells me you dont really need all these apps your clamoring for, and that you are really just whining for entitlement reasons

[Harnoy]

Originally Posted by hatchettjack

i hear what your saying, but the fact of the matter is the phone you bought didnt have what you wanted, and you bought this fone anyway on promises not written in stone.... which tells me you dont really need all these apps your clamoring for, and that you are really just whining for entitlement reasons

Obviously you don't hear what I'm saying. The 'promises' of a paid app store were stated by Palm. Of course they weren't 'written in stone', however Palm themselves said that it was going to happen. There was no indication ANYWHERE that Palm wasn't going to release the paid app catalogue into Canada. I bought the Pre with the STATED situation being that the paid app catalogue was coming. You're right, I don't NEED other applications but I bought this phone with the intent of using it as more than just a phone with a basic PIM. After all this phone was built to do that, it was ADVERTISED as being able to do that and Palm themselves SAID that the apps were coming.

I had no problem with waiting for the paid app store to appear. I also needed a new phone right away (as pointed out in post # 35). I will restate my point; THE PAID APP CATALOGUE HAS BEEN RELEASED, AN ANNOUNCEMENT WAS RELEASED INDICATING THAT THE PAID APP CATALOGUE WOULD SOON BE AVAILABLE IN EUROPE. BUT PALM HAS SAID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT CANADA ---EVER---, NO INDICATION AS TO WHEN OR IF. YES I AM 'ENTITLED' TO THE PAID APP CATALOGUE, I WAS LEAD TO BELIEVE BY BOTH PALM BASED ADVERTISING AND SALES REPS THAT THE PAID APP CATALOGUE WOULD BE AVAILABLE IN A FEW MONTHS. NO I AM NOT WHINING FOR ENTITLEMENT REASONS, I'M VERY ****ED OFF AT BEING LIED TO!!!

[the.teejster]

Palm is simply pushing folks more and more towards piracy by not making the paid app catalog available to those around the world.

[Weaser999]

Originally Posted by morrison0880

if you have no doubt that paid apps are coming to you, then it follows that you believe that you won't have to wait forever, making you last statement redundant.

ok I'll re-word that statement. I don't want to wait till 'what seems like forever' for the apps catalog to come out. Don't get me wrong. I don't care that the US gets the apps first. That's fine by me. I just don't want to wait for a year to get paid apps up here. I buy a phone for it's existing features and future potential. If it starts to fail to live up to it's perceived potential, then I move on. I don't see the point in brand loyalty. I mean seriously, does Palm like turning away potential customers? If someone up here in Canada goes to a cell phone dealer and says I want a new phone my contract is expiring soon.. they are presented with a few different phones, including the Pre and find out the Pre doesn't have a paid app catalog as well as no word as to when it will be available, yet the competition offers it right off the bat. Doesn't make Palm seem like an appealing alternative. You would think Palm is trying to get all the sales it can get.

[wunderbar]

You know, people make me laugh. I live in Canada, and yes, we get screwed *all* the time when it comes to this kind of content. It is the way it is for those of us who live in Canada. Frankly, we are too small of a market. This isn't a "if you don't like it, then...." type of situation. It's just the way it is, and it's always been that way. The Apple app store is the exception, not the rule.

[bill.millett]

Originally Posted by wunderbar

You know, people make me laugh. I live in Canada, and yes, we get screwed *all* the time when it comes to this kind of content. It is the way it is for those of us who live in Canada. Frankly, we are too small of a market. This isn't a "if you don't like it, then...." type of situation. It's just the way it is, and it's always been that way. The Apple app store is the exception, not the rule.

Well, what you are saying is true, for the most part. We do get screwed over because we are a smaller market. On the other hand, our banks rock. And we have cheap electricity. hehehe

I agree that there isn't a big push to develop something strictly for Canadians. What peeves me about the app catalog is that there is fundamentally no difference between providing it to Canada and the US. There is a tax treaty, so that's not an issue, and a US company can sell things into Canada no problem. There is nothing to ship, so it's not customs issue. Canadian credit cards work just fine when you plug them into US websites (or give them to US merchants). Seems the only thing holding it back may be that they want a US address.

Do I expect Palm to invest millions to provide the small number of Canucks with paid apps? Nope. But really, if they can accept European information (with their weird phone numbers and crazy addresses! ) then they can accept Canadian ones that are pretty close to US. Hell, a dozen or more free online store packages offer both Canadian and US buying. Can't be that hard.

So, I'm a little ****ed that we don't get the paid apps. Not the end of the world - waiting for WebOS 1.4, waiting for paid apps, whatever. Nice to have something to look forward to. On the other hand, I wish there was some statement as to when Palm expects us to get the paid apps.

Otherwise I'm going to start paying somebody in the US to figure out how to send me the apps as an ipkg file that I can install.

[ktessner]

Originally Posted by ktessner

For what it's worth I called Palm's Canadian sales number at 877-597-7256. The best I managed to get after navigating their menu system to what sounded appropriate was a voice mailbox, but I left my name and number (told them to call me on my Pre at ____) and told them I wanted to know when paid apps were coming to the Canadian App Catalog. If enough other folks do this, perhaps they'll make a statement to get us off their backs...

And they just called me back, they don't have a hard date but imagine it will be within the next two months. I asked if they could confirm that they were planning to bring paid apps to Canada, and the answer was "definitely."

[dbdoinit]

Originally Posted by ktessner

And they just called me back, they don't have a hard date but imagine it will be within the next two months. I asked if they could confirm that they were planning to bring paid apps to Canada, and the answer was "definitely."

Christmas is definitely coming too.

[rnorris]

It's an absolute joke. Want to try a 3d game demo (free app) - no dice, sorry Canadians. Oh, but I can get apps that show me restaurants or maps of New York, but not demos for programs or programs like the Google Voice app which is FREE anyway.

I'm on month 5 of my pre, and I'm giving them until April. Then, I won't be smashing it up and sending it back, but I'll definitely be blogging and posting in every Canadian forum and sending link copies to bell & palm.

Canada may be small, but we're basically the size of California for population. Would Palm roll out a product and basically give the finger to California?

It's bad enough they release a product with no video (oh but it's coming), no MSN Messenger (oh but it's coming) and no app catalog or official method for getting free apps which require no tax licensing.

Hate to say it - but Iphone looks better every day.

[Harnoy]

Originally Posted by ktessner

And they just called me back, they don't have a hard date but imagine it will be within the next two months. I asked if they could confirm that they were planning to bring paid apps to Canada, and the answer was "definitely."

That is the first positive news for Canadians that I've seen yet. Good job on getting the info.