[G1 Apps and Games] shmigao:
Still no paid apps in most countries

i am in China and I have the same problem.

Only 7 or 9 countries have paid apps. Google says it's because of the local mobile operators not allowing it or not having signed up for it. At the very beginning they said it's because of export & tax regulations that are different in all countries, but that should be totally bogus, because why Amazon or Software companies can sell online everywhere, just not the almighty Google?

To be honest, I believe this is more of a "test the market" type of business strategy, because - as a matter of fact - G1 and Android, etc. have not reached such a large market share and thus running the distribution for paid apps in 160 countries does indeed have cost implications that may not be justified for Google yet.

that doesn't mean i like it this way.

What really nags me is that since I used Market Enabler, Google is obviously regularly locking my account (sometimes for up to 12 hours). It happens every time i "fake" a mobile signature with Market Enabler, and when I go back to "normal" - i just can't sign in, and in that moment I can also not download any apps, INCLUDING free apps

i have a strong feeling that google has build a mechanism that checks where the user appears to be (based on the values of the SIM signature) and where he appeared to be before... and the algorithm accordingly blocks access to google account for a period of time.

It should be easy to determine, because I happen to be registered with China Mobile in one instance, and with O2 in Germany just a minute later, and maybe a few moments later with T-Mobile in the USA......

This is however extremely annoying, and considering the 230 EUR that I paid for my G1 (including google software licenses (i.e. for market, etc.) it is simply a SLAP into my face as a consumer, NOT being able to use the phone as a GLOBAL DEVICE.

As much as I like the G1 now modded up with Cyanogenmod ROM etc. I cannot honestly recommend the phone to anybody until all functions are available to be used anywhere where I have a cell connection. My work makes me travel across the continents and although I can use my laptop and download software, music, videos and everything everywhere, not being able to do the same with the G1 feels a bit like middle-ages right as we approach 2010.

I am also sick that I cannot find any complaint Email address or even phone number on any of Googles websites (try to find one, and if you can, please let me know). Any question you ask is funnelled into a Google-run user-forum or a help page, and if you are lucky there is a Google-employed Administrator, but the statements they give you are simply the "official" Google messages. There is no help at all

The worst is that they apparently encouraged users to call their mobile operators in countries where paid apps are not available yet (to encourage the mobile operators to sign up for paid apps, so google says...), and some users have done it and the reply of the Mobile Operators was that they have to sign up for expensive 3G-data-plans, which then still didn't give them access to paid apps.

Some (or Google) might ask me:

So how did you get your G1 in China (where it is not legally sold), and why do you expect it to work in China?

Well, I am German and I bought my G1 in Germany - but my work brought me to China and I do not want to leave my 230 EUR phone back home JUST BECAUSE GOOGLE DOESN'T WANT ME TO USE IT THERE.