Palm Pre to talk to iTunes. Apple can't be happy about this.

Since the Palm Pre’s unveiling at CES early this year, it was heralded as the iPhone killer. Now early word is that it’s not only a killer, but possibly an imposter when it needs to be.

According to a ‘scooplet’ on a Fortune blog, the Palm Pre when plugged into a Mac (unsure if it works on PCs) will sync seamlessly with iTunes. The iTunes Store treats the current ‘pre’-release Pre just as it would an iPod or an iPhone with one exception: it can’t handle old copy-protected songs, reported Fortune.

Other smartphones and music players have been able to latch onto iTunes through the help of other third party programs, but having compatibility built into a device is a first. If the report is true, the code to talk to iTunes is built right into the Pre – and even if Apple updates iTunes to block out the Pre, nothing short of legal action will stop Palm from providing firmware updates.

It almost goes without saying that the Pre won’t be compatible with anything on the App Store, but being able to sync your playlists might be enough to win over those who love their iTunes but also want something other than the iPhone.