Palm’s Going After iTunes Once Again

Filed in archive Announcements on July 24, 2009

I don't think I have to go into great detail in saying that a lot of Apple's success with the iPhone stems from the popularity of their iTunes music service.

Naturally Apple is very serious about protecting this gold mind and didn't take too kindly to Palm when they developed a software tool that allowed Pre users to connect to iTunes.

Apple quickly slammed the door on the Palm adaptor but Palm is back again to try round two. Palm has confirmed that they will in fact be delivering an update to the Pre smartphone, allowing it to once again connect to iTunes a week after it was shut out, escalating its raging battle with rival Apple.

The Pre, released last month, was viewed by many as the chief competitor to the iPhone. It was also the first non-Apple handset ever to connect directly to iTunes. But a month later, Apple closed the loophole saying that the Pre had falsely pretended to be genuine Apple products.

Palm's new fix, an update to the Pre's WebOS software, is similar to its old workaround.

When the Pre connects to a computer through a USB cable, it sends out Apple's vendor ID code. Recognizing the Pre as an Apple product, iTunes then allows users to transfer music, photos and videos.

Palm claims Apple should not be allowed to set iTunes to respond only to devices with Apple's USB codes. But the USB Implementers Forum, an industry standards group, states that the vendor ID used by a product must match the ID code of the company producing the product.

Its safe to assume Apple will fire back again to close up the loop, forcing Palm to give it another go. And so the raging iTunes battle will continue.