Topics: Mobile

Apple Fires Shot Across Palm's Bow Over Pre iTunes Syncing

Posted by Eric Zeman, Jun 16, 2009 10:19 PM

The Palm Pre syncs seamlessly with Apple's iTunes software. Palm touted this as one of the Pre's neat-o features. It does this by tricking iTunes into believing the Pre is an iPod. Turns out, Apple may not like that too much.

Apple recently posted a note in its support forums. The title of the post is "iTunes: About unsupported third-party digital media players." Now, Apple doesn't actually name the Palm Pre, but it's pretty clear to everyone what Apple is referring to.

The note says:

Apple designs the hardware and software to provide seamless integration of the iPhone and iPod with iTunes, the iTunes Store, and tens of thousands of apps on the App Store. Apple is aware that some third-parties claim that their digital media players are able to sync with Apple software. However, Apple does not provide support for, or test for compatibility with, non-Apple digital media players and, because software changes over time, newer versions of Apple’s iTunes software may no longer provide syncing functionality with non-Apple digital media players.

What will Palm Pre users do if Apple does decide to turn it off? How will Palm respond? The Pre works with Windows Media Player, too, so Windows users won't be left out in the cold, but plenty of Apple users would be. That means Apple would be hurting its own customers. Does Apple have the gumption to do that?

Apple would have to actively change the existing code in iTunes in order to block the Pre or other devices from syncing. Will it? Who knows, but I wouldn't put it past the company.

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