Apple quashes Palm Pre syncing with iTunes 8.2.1 [u]
When the one-time smartphone leader told the world that its hot, new handset synced seamlessly with Apple’s iTunes — which owns the critical digital music jukebox segment — it was just a question of when and not if Apple would shut them down. Now that Apple’s pulled the plug, what will Palm’s next move be?
Back on May 28, Palm announced that its upcoming smartphone — a product the company was betting its future on — could hook up with Apple’s industry-defining media management, store and jukebox application, we knew this day was coming. However, I personally would have guessed that the move to lock out the Pre, and perhaps other upstart devices, would be rolled into a general iTunes update — not so.
• iTunes 8.2.1, 77.3MB
— iTunes 8.2.1 provides a number of important bug fixes and addresses
an issue with verification of Apple devices.See also:
— iPhone, Palm Pre are hurting Blackberry sales
— iPhone 3GS bests Palm Pre and Blackberry
— DVD Jon: Palm Pre emulating iPod to ‘fool’ iTunes
— Palm Pre ’syncs seamlessly’ with iTunes
Apple’s description of what iTunes 8.2.1 does is pretty much straight to the point. Yes, there’s a perfunctory mention of “bugs,” but it is abundantly clear the overarching purpose here is to shut out those naughty, naughty Palm Pre users.
[u]The lads at Pre Central, a Palm Pre enthusiast site, have confirmed that “syncing with iTunes is indeed kaput.”
Once bitten?
So, is this the end of this silly little episode or will Palm be back? After all former Apple iPod chief Jon Rubenstein now runs Palm and he’s got scads o’ ex-Apple engineers there at this beck and call, too, so there’s little doubt they’ve got the technical chops to reinstate syncing.
Moreover, although they knew this day was coming, Pre users can’t be too pleased that they’ve lost their lifeline to their music. Honestly, what are they gonna do, move all their stuff to Windows Media Player or lay down good money after bad to purchase a third-party syncing application? Neither of those prospects sounds particularly enticing.
[u] Salling Media Sync is a free (basic functionality only) Pre to iTunes sync utility.
At the very least, a public pissing match with Apple over iTunes syncing will generate lots of publicity and that can’t be a bad thing…
What’s your take?
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