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Palm Pre (Palm photo)
Someone, somewhere inside Apple is today quoting "The Simpsons" character Nelson Muntz and telling Palm, "Hah-hah!"
As expected, Apple today followed through on its threat to break iTunes on rival smartphone the Palm Pre.
Apple just introduced iTunes 8.2.1, which as it said might happen, would disable the ability to sync the iTunes playlist on a computer with the iTunes application on a “non-Apple” MP3 player. But as the Web site Engadget reports, Pre owners could still update the iTunes playlist on their Pre through a USB connection.
According to comments on a number of different tech Web sites today, there are a number of third party applications that can get around the broken iTunes-Pre sync. At the very least, Pre owners could maintain syncability by simply not installing the 8.2.1 update.
Palm touted “Palm media sync” as a key feature of its new Pre, which it launched June 6, noting that it allowed Pre users to run various music player programs on their smartphone, including iTunes.
But 10 days after the launch, Apple warned that iTunes on Pre did not have long to live.
“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,” a statement from Apple read.
UPDATE: Palm, in a response late today, reiterated what it said a few weeks ago that by disabling iTunes, Apple was hurting its customers as well as Palm's.
"If Apple chooses to disable [iTunes], then this would be a direct blow to their users who will be deprived of a seamless synchronization experience," said Palm spokeswoman Leslie Letts in an e-mail.
Letts also reiterated that Pre owners could continue synchronization by staying with iTunes 8.2, syncing titles from their computer hard drive via USB, or with other third party music players.
If you're a Pre owner who likes having iTunes on your device, click on the "Comment" link at the top of this story and tell me what you think of Apple's move.
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