Apple Fires Warning Shot Across Palm’s Bow
Palm has pulled a pretty cool feat by figuring out a way to get the Pre to sync with iTunes. I have done it and it works pretty darn well as the Pre identifies itself as an iPod to iTunes. Many in the tech world were surprised that Apple hadn’t addressed, this but it appears they have now done so.
From the Apple iTunes support site:
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.
It will be interesting to see if Apple takes action to block the Pre from syncing. Since the device identifies itself as an iPod, Apple would have to actively seek out the Pre and block it aggressively. Here’s hoping they just let it be.
The arrogance of Apple knows no bounds.
At some point Apple might find itself in the shoes of Apple, being sued for monopolistic practices and abuses.
“At some point Apple might find itself in the shoes of Apple, being sued for monopolistic practices and abuses.”
Is iTunes the only music store on the net? No. Is the iPod the only PMP player on the planet? No. Is the iPhone the only Smartphone on the planet available? No. So before you call Apple a monopoly, understand the meaning of the world first. If you don’t like it go buy another brand. Apple isn’t the ONLY Smartphone, PMP, Music store out there.
Actually given the control over music sales that itunes now has that is exactly what it is. Look at Microsoft and Intel for your comparison. Are there OS or chip alternatives? Of course but these companies have a larger share and have been sued for the same monopolistic practices that we are talking about.
For the record I own several Apple products but you have to call a spade a spade in this case.
Oh really. So Amazon, Walmart, Ovi, MS Marketplace, eMusic…. don’t exist, don’t sell music online….. c’mon get real here.
Apple never stops amazing me. Its their right to block access.
Can microsoft seek out apple computers and do the same?
They can’t just block Pre’s, it would have to be all mp3s.
I meant all devices (not mp3s)
It’s known that Palm used a hack to act as an iPod (link below), and that Apple should be able to stop it relatively easily.
The fact that Rubenstein dodged the question when Walt Mossberg asked him about it — twice — at the All Things Digital conference was a pretty good indicator Palm knew what they did was, at the very least, questionable.
If Palm wants Pre users to seamlessly sync their media they should write their own software, not hack into someone else’s.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/06/palm-pre-itunes-compatibility-confirmed-as-a-hack.ars
Is it not possible that Apple mean what they are actually saying? That they can\’t be expected to test any/all devices that pretend to be iPods. Maybe there\’s no conspiracy here – just Apple saying \”it\’s the responsibility of Palm to make sure it keeps working\”?
Apple invests good money in the development and marketing of iTunes and Palm just takes advantage of it (and since they needed to fake an iPod code they are fully aware of it). Apple has all the right to protect its investment.
If Palm needs a desktop music software they could just take an FOSS one like Songbird or Amorak and modify that to fit their needs and not just leech of Apple.
What I don\’t understand is why Apple are allowed to get away with anti-competative behaviour but Microsoft isn\’t. I know a lot of people in power are corrupt (they are humans after all) but nobody seems to care.
How is this anticompetitive? Is it anticompetitive that you can\’t play your PSP games on your Xbox? Or that you can\’t use Palm Desktop to sync your iPhone?
Apple doesn\’t have to take action to block the Pre from syncing with iTunes. It may eventually happen by itself.
The truism is that any feature not tested for will eventually fail as the codebase changes. Programmers are human beings. The changes they make sometimes have unexpected consequences. This is why we do regression testing, to make sure that an improvement doesn\’t also cause a backslide. Since they will not be testing to see if iTunes will continue to sync with a Pre, it is absolutely possible for that to break without Apple doing so intentionally.
If they merely let it be, chances are good that the functionality will break eventually, unless the Pre emulates an iPod perfectly. The only way to guarantee that a Pre continues to be able to sync with iTunes is for Apple to check for regression before they release. I have no idea why they would do that.
Perhaps their statement is a veiled threat. However, it also makes perfect sense taken at face value. What Apple has said here is \”We\’re not testing for this, so if this stops working, we will not catch it before release. This is not a feature of iTunes, so if someone catches that this has stopped working after release, we have no interest in fixing it.\”
However, it also makes perfect sense taken at face value.
When has Apple ever been a company where it makes sense to take what they say at face value?
This is as stupid as Sony’s attempts to cripple the PSP or Apple’s attempts to stop iPhone Jailbreaking. Every time they put out a patch it’s cracked in less than a day by some 16 year old kid.
They will just pour money down a rat hole trying to be miserable pricks and their efforts will get them nothing but bad press.
Their product is better and people want it, just keep improving and marketing and Palm will blow themselves up any way.
My interpretation of their statement is that if it breaks, it breaks. Apple could modify the way they identify an iPod / iPhone device in iTunes and Palm’s solution isn’t then supported. Sure we could read between the lines and say what we think Apple will do here, but that’s a waste of time and effort to me. I’d rather focus on the solution, not the problem.
Either Palm develops a different mechanism or we use the one they already have: just transfer audio files in the Pre’s USB Mode when connected to a computer. No, it’s not a “sync”, but it works and doesn’t infringe upon Apple’s effort. It shouldn’t be too hard for a third-party to develop a sync program if Palm doesn’t.
JC, Kevin, agreed. And I would think that Apple would be happy that they have yet another avenue to sell their music downloads. There will be people who buy Pre devices but don’t yet have iTunes (I know, it’s heresy that someone wouldn’t have iTunes already!) but would gladly load up iTunes to get music easily onto their Pre. Unfortunately, at that point Apple loses total control of the “environment” that they so zealously guard.
Overall, I think people are getting worked up for nothing because all Apple said in the note above was “it may stop working” not “we will sue the heck out of you to make you stop.” (rose-colored glasses on) Maybe the mildness of the language is a tacit “go ahead and do it so we can get more downloads.” (rose-colored glasses off) Nah, probably not…..