It’s on! iTunes dumps Palm Pre
By
Mihir Patkar |
Updated on 16-Jul-2009
Let’s get ready to rummmmmmmble! Reports and tweets are flying around the Web that Apple’s latest update for iTunes – v 8.2.1 – blocks Palm Pre, refusing to recognise the handset as a valid iTunes-supported player. The reason for doing so, though, remains unexplained.
Apple and Palm had recently had a bit of a public showdown about third-party digital media player support for iTunes, which PreCentral captured very well.
“iTunes 8.2.1 is a free software update that provides a number of important bug fixes,” says Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris. “It also disables devices falsely pretending to be iPods, including the Palm Pre. As we’ve said before, newer versions of Apple’s iTunes software may no longer provide syncing functionality with unsupported digital media players.”
Palm spokeswoman Lynn Fox released a counter statement: “Palm’s media sync works with iTunes 8.2. If Apple chooses to disable media sync in iTunes, it will be a direct blow to their users who will be deprived of a seamless synchronization experience. However, people will have options. They can stay with the iTunes version that works to sync their music on their Pre, they can transfer the music via USB, and there are other third-party applications we can consider.”
Sound options. But what is really perplexing is the question as to why it makes sense for Apple to block Palm Pre? If a Palm Pre user can connect his device to iTunes, wouldn’t he buy songs and other data from iTunes and thus increase Apple’s revenue? A Pre user will most definitely switch his software before he switches his phone, so how is it profitable for Apple to dissuade Pre users from using iTunes?
Any suggestions, commenters?
Sources: PreCentral, BusinessWeek