AfterDawn: News

iTunes 9 kills Palm Pre syncing again

As predicted, Apple blocked the use of the Palm Pre with iTunes in the latest update for the multimedia application, iTunes 9. Previously, Apple had locked out the Pre handset from iTunes with the iTunes 8.2.1 update. Following the initial block, Palm restored the syncing abilities with the WebOS 1.1.0 update.

The cat and mouse game looks set to continue however, as the Pre is getting a WebOS 1.2 update in the near-future. Before the Pre launched, Palm announced that the new handset would be capable of syncing with the iTunes software. An Apple statement followed, promising that the syncing ability with the Pre won't last very long. It was two months after the launch when Apple blocked it.



Palm wasn't going to sit still over the issue however, and a wrote a letter of protest to the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), the non-profit organization that maintains the Universal Serial Bus (USB) specification and promotes the interface. Apple had blocked the Pre from syncing with iTunes by checking the idVendor descriptor when connected.

The Palm letter informed USB-IF of the WebOS update, which would change the Pre's Vendor ID to the same as Apple's in order to regain iTunes support. "Interoperability is central to any standard-setting organization," the letter read, "because, without widespread interoperability, many of the benefits of standardized (as opposed to proprietary) technologies are lost."

Unless USB-IF intervenes in the situation, this cat and mouse game of blocking and regaining Pre-iTunes support with software updates could continue for some time.

Written by: James Delahunty @ 10 Sep 2009 20:04

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• 10 comments

• KillerBug

  All the more reason to hate iTunes.

  10.9.2009 23:54 #1

• lamain

  Quote:All the more reason to hate iTunes. All the more reason to hate Apple.
  
  This is not the only time Apple has done things that hurt there own customers.

  11.9.2009 00:18 #2

• MrXenu

  This is why I hate Apple more than M$ and will always refuse to buy any Apple products.
  
  Surely this is illegal, as its blocking a competitors product from using your software, so your own product has an advantage.
  
  Didn't this once happen to Apple, where M$ didn't release Microsoft Office on Apple, and competition laws forced M$ to release it for Mac's.
  
  Well whats going on is an even more blatent infringement on competition laws. Apple did something like this a few months ago with the skype application. Yet they recieve no punishment.
  
  Whenever M$ do something like this its auto fist of justice from any goverment or any other major company, yet Apple always manage to get away with it.

  11.9.2009 04:27 #3

• ak472009

  hey steve jobs if you are reading this , then i am letting u know i will never buy apple products if y'all continue to be dumb like this, just because palm pre is better than iphone, don't act like a jealous little girl

  11.9.2009 06:20 #4

• ren97

  I'm sure everyone here realizes this but if you don't update Itunes and you have auto update off the pre continues to sync normally. Just a heads up for pre owners. I would never buy an ipod but having a pre function as one is excellent!

  11.9.2009 10:51 #5

• emugamer

  I don't have a pre, but this news combined with the iPod Touch let-down has officially turned me into an Apple hater. Once my iPod dies, I'm picking an alternative mp3 player. They're not getting any of my money ever again.

  11.9.2009 12:09 #6

• Bozobub

  Originally posted by MrXenu: Didn't this once happen to Apple, where M$ didn't release Microsoft Office on Apple, and competition laws forced M$ to release it for Mac's.No. In fact, the cornerstones of Office (Word and Excel) were originally exclusively available only for Macs.

  11.9.2009 12:12 #7

• TBandit

  Why would you deny your consumers iTunes on another platform when those could be sales?

  12.9.2009 02:32 #8

• alexeemo

  Originally posted by ak472009: hey steve jobs if you are reading this , then i am letting u know i will never buy apple products if y'all continue to be dumb like this, just because palm pre is better than iphone, don't act like a jealous little girl
  I agree with everyone above. This bs would seriously piss me off if I owned an a palm and had purchased songs from iTunes. Another reason I didn't buy the iPod. Overpriced anyways. Apple can stick it where the sun doesn't shine.

  12.9.2009 12:00 #9

• mscritsm

  Palm's whining to USB-IF is a joke. It's just an industry organization and has no real power over its members other than moral suasion. The most it can do is kick someone out, but that won't stop them from implementing the USB interface any way they want.
  
  Apple is under no obligation to support devices it doesn't make. If a customer with a Pre calls up with a syncing issue, why should Apple have to go through the headache of figuring out if it's a iTunes or Pre issue? And even if it's a Pre issue, often the customer will blame Apple anyway.

  16.9.2009 01:49 #10