That's not an error related to the OS that they were getting...you can't download ANY apps to a BB w/out the OS for that BB installed on the PC along w/DM. So until Alltel released the OS, the error that was showing up when they tried to use DM to install apps is just a poorly worded message that should (but does not) say that the device OS must be installed on the PC to load apps via USB.

So that's why Alltel folks can load apps via USB now...

I'm thinking that nothing was updated, or something was updated that wasn't releated to the OS...the fact that you didn't do a device backup/restore indicates that you didn't get a "real" OS update, as I'd expect.