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Is Palm Pre iTunes syncing too good to last?
One of the selling points of the Palm Pre is that it can sync with iTunes just like an iPhone can, minus the ability to play old DRM-protected purchases from the Apple store. The thing is, that amazing iTunes support comes from a hacky workaround where the Pre passes itself off as Apple hardware when it's connected. It won't show up in iTunes as a "Palm Pre," it'll show up as an iPod.What can Apple do about it, though? An escalating battle to break the hack could require Apple to release firmware updates, which is always annoying for users, or could be fixed on the software side with an iTunes update. The newest release of iTunes, 8.2, reportedly doesn't break Pre's syncing support.
What will the outcome be? Do you think we'll see a lawsuit, a firmware or iTunes-side fix from Apple, or something completely different?
Comments
21
Subscribe to commentssnoopedgyedgeJun 4th 2009 2:44PM
Something different. It's time for it.
stephiejennaJun 4th 2009 2:46PM
I agree!
xenogears728Jun 4th 2009 3:05PM
Yea I dont know. I have a feeling apple is sitting on the sue button.
hazardJun 4th 2009 6:19PM
Apple would not win a Patent war with Palm for mobile devices.
ExtantJun 4th 2009 3:25PM
I've always been under the impression that Apple's main source of revenue was the iTunes Music Store, not the iPods/iPhones themselves...in that case, this seems great for apple, because it drives more people to buy music from them.
JoshJun 4th 2009 10:34PM
Apple hardly makes any money from software or media. Apple makes less than a dime per $0.99 song, for example. I'm not sure of an exact percentage but I would be willing to bet than 75-85% of Apple's revenue is from hardware. They sell apps, songs, movies, tv shows, etc. as a way to sell more hardware. If anything, I would assume that R&D and server costs would completely negate anything they made from the iTunes Store.
apple2nJun 5th 2009 10:02AM
Actually, I read somewhere the Palm Pre will NOT sync music from the iTunes Music Store so this could increase piracy. Download some music off of a P2P client, add them to iTunes and BAM! it's on your Palm Pre.
JoshJun 5th 2009 1:16PM
@Apple2n: It will sync any iTunes Plus music so basically any song that you buy from iTunes now will be supported. Older DRM crippled music will not sync though and neither will any videos from iTunes
TimothyJun 4th 2009 3:38PM
Why break it? Pre working with iTunes just makes iTunes more popular and send more money Apples way... Let's face it - iTunes is not the only selling point of the iPhone anyway so it makes very little sense to cripple it...
AnthonyJun 4th 2009 4:00PM
I dont see why this is coming up on dwnload squad now of all times. Other blogs have already made note of this a while ago. and the pre wont be the first non apple product to sync w/ itunes.
JoshJun 4th 2009 10:37PM
This isn't the first time Downloadsquad has wrote about this issue...
r3loadedJun 4th 2009 4:14PM
iTunes music store does DRM-free music now. iTunes + Pre = win for both companies.
I think that in the end they won't actually try to break Pre syncing.
JoshJun 4th 2009 10:37PM
How is it a win for Apple?
DemoJun 4th 2009 5:32PM
I'm curious as to why people think Apple will sue? All Apple has to do is patch this out if they really don't want it there. Palm is making zero dollars from this, whereas Apple would get paid for every track a Pre user would buy...not seeing why this would be a lawsuit.
JoshJun 4th 2009 10:38PM
The only thing I've got is the fact that Apple makes next to nothing from selling things in the store. The only reason they have the store is as a means to sell more iPods and iPhones.
I still don't see a reason to sue. Just update iTunes and stop it from happening.
apple2nJun 5th 2009 10:05AM
@Josh: "The only reason they have the store is as a means to sell more iPods and iPhones." Exactly. If the Palm Pre can sync with iTunes, then Apple will sell less iPods and iPhones which means less revenue and profit for them.
FrancisJun 11th 2009 12:42PM
@ Demo and Josh:
An iTunes update/patch won't solve it, Palm Pre owners can simply choose not to update...
@ apple2n:
"Exactly. If the Palm Pre can sync with iTunes, then Apple will sell less iPods and iPhones which means less revenue and profit for them."
You can't make the assumption that Palm Pre users would buy an iPod or iPhone if they hadn't bought their Pre. There are various reasons people may choose to buy a Palm Pre that have nothing to do with iTunes syncing.
You could also look at it another way: Apple was never going to make any money off Palm Pre users - but now that the Pre syncs with iTunes, there is the possibility that these Pre owners will purchase songs from the iTunes Store.
ButtersJun 4th 2009 5:33PM
I am sure the reason this is being mentioned now is because iTunes 8.2 was only released this week and reports indicate that the Palm Pre sync to iTunes is still intact, therefore is is relevant to mention it.
sephiroth4Jun 4th 2009 8:52PM
come on guys, it's not like Palm wouldn't update the Pre....
feraligatr8Jun 5th 2009 2:58AM
iTunes updates are 80mb WTF!!? Why the hell do we need to download 80MBs of data just to update from 8.X to 8.X?