Palm Pre iTunes syncing DOA for now

Robert Hallock (Thrax) Has Apple won in the fight to oust the Palm Pre from iTunes land?

September 30, 2009 1:49 AM ET in News, , , , , , , ,

palmlogoPalm Corporation has released WebOS 1.2 for the Pre which makes no mention of the phone’s ability to sync with iTunes.

Dubbed “media sync,” Palm originally gifted the Pre with the ability to imitate an iPod in order to sync tunes and playlists with Apple’s popular iTunes program. The two firms subsequently waged a protracted battle over the function, in which Apple and Palm took turns circumventing fixes designed to restore or block iTunes support.

The battle came to a climax last Wednesday when Palm was given firm treatment by the USB Implementers Forum which oversees the USB technology. The USB-IF rejected Palm’s idea that Apple was unfairly using its USB vendor ID (a unique number given to all USB devices) to block the Pre.

“[In] the view of the USB-IF, Palm’s allegation (if true) does not establish that Apple is using its Vendor ID (VID) contrary to the USB-IF’s policies,” the group said. “Therefore, under present USB-IF policies, the USB-IF does not consider the alleged use, without more, to be ‘improper.’”

The group went on to say that Palm may even be violating its member agreement which states that a device may only ever report one VID. In syncing the Pre with iTunes, Palm switches out the phone’s natural ID in favor of an Apple one which iTunes cannot filter.

WebOS 1.2 is the first OS release for the Pre which contains no update on the status of media sync’s iTunes compatibility. Although Palm was mysterious when questioned about future support, we’re all fairly certain that this goose is cooked.

11 Comments

  1. 30 Sep '09, 5:55 am Thrax

    Good night, sweet Prēnce.

  2. 30 Sep '09, 11:41 am Cliff_Forster

    Now, will Pre owners revolt against Apple and migrate to another service? For some reason I doubt that level of organization will occur, but it would be great to see.

  3. 30 Sep '09, 12:22 pm Snarkasm

    More likely they'll just feel screwed and take it out against Palm.

  4. 30 Sep '09, 1:33 pm mirage

    I can't believe the company which had dominated the handheld market big time and destined to be a brand like Kleenex or Coke now struggles like this. Instead, iPod and Blackberry reached there. I still keep my Visor and Tungsten T like precious items. When I use them time to time, I think about how Palm wasted its headway into the handheld market. If this is their return effort, it seems their magic is lost. Such a pity.

  5. 30 Sep '09, 5:53 pm djmeph

    It's still working for me. I just updated to WebOS 1.2 but I'm going to keep iTunes 8.2.1.6 installed as long as it works.

  6. 30 Sep '09, 5:57 pm Thrax

    It works for you because you're using 8.2.1.6.

  7. 30 Sep '09, 7:03 pm djmeph

    Right, so I won't upgrade to iTunes 9 unless something else happens. Am I really missing out on anything?

  8. 30 Sep '09, 7:04 pm Thrax

    You're asking the wrong person that question.

  9. 30 Sep '09, 7:16 pm Koreish

    Every time I've gotten an iTunes update I've hardly ever noticed a change, so no you're probably not missing out on much by not upgrading to 9.

  10. 30 Sep '09, 8:25 pm Snarkasm

    Genius something or other and the ability to manage apps or games or some crap.

    In other words, no.

  11. 1 Oct '09, 5:00 pm shwaip

    new skin as well, i believe.

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