Apple Launches iTunes 9.0.2…and Palm Pres Can’t Sync Again

October 30, 2009 By Geoff Duncan

Apple has launched iTunes 9.0.2 to support its latest Apple TV 3.0 software...and along the way they disabled the Palm Pre's ability to sync with iTunes. Again.

The tit-for-tat battle between Palm and Apple over iTunes syncing doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon. When Palm launched the Palm Pre smartphone earlier this year on Sprint, one of the advertised features was that it could sync with Apple’s popular iTunes software just like an iPod…and it did so essentially by tricking iTunes into believing the Pre was, in fact, an iPod. Apple flatly noted that third-party syncing solutions aren’t supported and, sure enough, the first iTunes update after the launch of the Palm Pre magically broke the Pre’s synchronization feature.

The companies have since been battling back and forth, with Palm issuing new workarounds to re-enable iTunes syncing for the Palm Pre, then Apple breaking it again in the next iTunes update. Now with Apple’s iTunes 9.0.2, Cupertino again has the upper hand, and Pre owners who upgrade their copy of iTunes won’t be able to sync. The move comes less than a month after Palm most-recently re-enabled iTunes syncing in webOS 1.2.1.

Palm has attempted to take its case to the USB Implementer’s Forum, arguing that Apple’s blocking of the Palm Pre amounted to a violation of the company’s membership agreement that enables them to use USB technology. However, the USB-IF actually sided with Apple, saying that Apple using its own vendor ID to identify its own products doesn’t seem to be in violation of any portion of the USB-IF membership agreement. The forum went one step further, saying that one member’s use of another member’s vendor ID—which is exactly what Palm is doing with Apple’s ID—is prohibited.

Showing 7 comments

Sam at 4:37pm 31st October 2009 Why does Palm thinks it owns itunes? As much as I hate Apple, they are right in patching everytime. Palm is trying to piggy back off someone's eles product. Maybe they should make a product that is better than Apples?
1. Dan Gaul at 5:23pm 31st October 2009 Or maybe try to negotiate with Apple to get a correct license.
  1. Ian Bell at 9:30pm 31st October 2009 That will never happen. A former Apple designer is responsible for the Pre's OS. I am sure Apple is pretty upset by that.
    Dan Gaul at 1:19am 1st November 2009 Ya, the problem is apple has never, ever licensed out support for itunes to any hardware manufacturer that I know of.
Ian Bell at 1:34pm 30th October 2009 I just don't understand why everyone thinks Apple should give their technology away for free. It's not like Palm is paying a licensing fee for it.
Ian Bell at 11:16am 30th October 2009 No offense, but Palm is way out of line here. Apple owns iTunes, they can choose who to partner with and who not to. Simple as that.
1. Dan Gaul at 1:20pm 30th October 2009 I agree. The only people who lose out are the users. Apple has always been very strict with access to iTunes and the iPod. They don't license it out to anybody that I know of, and never have.Remember RealPlayer? They were the first to do this, allowing you to sync an iPod to the RealPlayer.