So Much For Palm's Hacks

[Vincent Ferrari]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3642' target='_blank'>http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3642</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Apple designs the hardware and software to provide seamless integration of the iPhone and iPod with iTunes, the iTunes Store, and tens of thousands of apps on the App Store. 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."</em></p><p><img height="303" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/at/auto/1245238889.usr18053.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" width="470" /></p><p>Good.&nbsp; I hope they do break it.&nbsp; That's what happens when you hack your hardware / software: it may stop working at some point.&nbsp; Cue cries of "unfair competition" in 3...&nbsp; 2...&nbsp; 1...</p>

[The Yaz]

I see the Pre syncing with iTunes as an advantage for Apple.

What's the biggest problem for the dominant hardware/software companies? Claims of monopoly, of course!

Now that iTunes is the largest seller of music, what's to stop its competition from getting a legal injunction to change its "unfair" business practices.

Why proof that the music service is not completely linked to the iPod/iPhone business cycle would be the first arguement that can be brought forward.

How interesting would it be if as a business plan iTunes in the future became sync-able to any media player? Apple's main profit is hardware sales, but the marginal profit from the sales at iTunes can be significant if the volume were to increase dramatically.

Just a thought ;)

Steve

[ptyork]

I still don't think they'll break it. Since it identifies itself and mimics a generic iPod, it would require them to actively code in a test for that specific device to deny service and/or to upgrade the firmware of EVERY single iPod to behave differently when syncing. And yes, Apple would be on shaky ethical grounds there, especially since Palm isn't doing anything really wrong. iTunes is THE media player bundled with OSX. It would be like Microsoft actively denying support for syncing Android phones with WMP. Google would likely win in court over such a move (definitely in Europe). Apple's situation is a little less black and white since they don't actively promote iTunes as an open platform, but it is certainly similar. I don't think Apple really wants to open the door to possible antitrust litigation at the scale that MS has to deal with (and Apple's practices are even more sinister, just on a smaller scale). Plus I think the public backlash would be quite extreme.

No, I think this is just a PR move to try and scare impressionable and skittish iTunes users away from the Pre. I'll be very surprised to see them actually follow through.

[doogald]

Just the fact that so many Palm engineers came from Apple, worked on iPod and iTunes, and that Apple has intellectual property copyright suggests to me that Apple would probably win any court case that they brought. It would be awfully hard for Palm to prove that they developed this without knowledge of Apple's IP.

That said, at this point they probably wouldn't bother. I am guessing that perhaps Apple is just protecting themselves from any action should, say, an iPod firmware update accidentally get pushed down to a connected Pre, bricking it. (Though let's hope Palm was smart enough to protect themselves from something like that.)

[Fritzly]

To me this is just and simple another example of Apple dumb business plan:
I can sync music and pictures between my iPhone and W7 Media Player; why Apple would try to deny Palm to sync with an Apple desktop or laptop is beyond my comprehension.
Besides, as others pointed out, the legal implications are huge.