It was only a matter of time...they'll keep playing cat-and-mouse over it for sure...

i don't know why Apple needs to have software lockout other devices...

it's not hurting Apple in anyway...it's just a free music organizer/player...

this cat and mouse game is going to go on back and forth till one side gives up...

Eventually Apple and Palm will end in some sort of legal battle...

I'd like to see a revenue breakdown of Apple to see how much they make from Macs, iPods/iPhones, and iTunes. I'm sure with the Pre being able to sync with iTunes they'd still bank from the song/video sales.

i highly doubt that...

whoever brings up a lawsuit, it'll make the company look petty and childish...

if anything, this update is going to go back and forth till someone gives up....which is either Apple installing some kind of hardware authentication specific to iTunes or Palm not supporting Pre and moving on to next device....

Exactly KyleSTL, this is free publicity for iTunes for them and could even result in iPod sales. And it will definitely lead to them selling more from the iTunes Store.

And I will add, that I have a BlackBerry Storm now and syncing it is a huge pain compared to my iPod Touch. I would absolutely love to have the ability to sync up through iTunes.

@icepick314

"i don't know why Apple needs to have software lockout other devices..."

Can you tell us a good reason they should allow other devices to work with itunes?

I'm sure someone at Apple estimated the increased sales at the itunes store vs the decreased sales in ipods and made the choice that made the most money for Apple.

lol owned

Apple isn't stupid - the success of itunes and the store was built on the back of ipod sales - to now have a device that can synch and access the store is one less ipod sale. I have to agree with an earlier poster, they probably did the cost tradeoff and the lost ipod sale is probably a bigger loss than the gain from itunes store sales. That would also make sense in that Apple has control over the margins on their ipods, no so much on the itunes store content - everyone wants their cut of those sales.

when you're 80% of music sales, locking out other mp3 players or devices like the palm, is ridiculous.

There have been workarounds for years to be able to sync iTunes with non iPod devices, that didn't bother Apple. The problems Apple have with Palm, however, is that they're violating their intellectual property in respect to multi-touch gestures on a mobile device and also Palm have hired several former Apple executives and engineers so as to try to compete with Apple.

Apple is actively trying to block the Pre from syncing with iTunes specifically so as to piss off Palm. It has nothing to do with any potential loss of iPod/iPhone sales at all.

Well, it'd be better for users and customers.

i believe the problem lies with good old DRM. apple must demonstrate the the copyright holders (music studios, tv and film studios) that they can keep control of where the digital copies of their material ends up.. locking out third party devices enables apple to demonstrate they have complete control over the distribution and use of such material.. apple cannot control third party devices and how they might / do allow people to copy the music off the device elsewhere.. this is less of an issue now with music being mostly DRM free, but the movies and tv shows still rely heavily on DRM protection. So until DRM dies, apple will always have justification for locking out third party hardware..

Go Palm!

Apple makes money every time they sell a song on itunes. They're idiots for blocking the palm from access.

I agree Apple is just being stupid. If the whole idea is to sell songs than shouldn't you
want every device on the planet to hook up. Pull your heads out of you bunghole.

It's not one less iPod sale, cause I'm guessing the Pre owner was never gonna buy an iPod to begin with and will just use another program to sync it up. It WILL be a loss of music sales from iTunes though.

translation: apple trying to push competition out of the smartphone market, no surprise. screw the consumers, if you want a smartphone it must be an iPhone

How would you feel if you had developed a video player, then developed the desktop interface software for that video player, only to have another company come along and design their device to attach to your desktop interface. It wouldn't be a problem if you charged for both your video player and desktop interface, but in Apple's situation, they have been giving away iTunes for free (free as in, it's free to you and me, but not to Apple, since they are paying for this free lunch as long as we keep buying their music players).

Apple has decided it's first and foremost a hardware company. They have the advantage of designing some of the best software on the market as well, from operating systems to consumer and professional level applications. Some has been developed in house, a lot of it has been purchased over the years and brought in house.

But to expect Apple to support Palm's devices FOR FREE without having Palm pony up some form of compensation is not right, no matter how many ways you slice it. Apple owns iTunes, they can do whatever they want to with the software, and Palm, unless they are willing to pay Apple for it, cannot tell Apple what to do with their software.

This shows how easily it is to break codes in software no matter what! itune Hack anyone?

Wouldn't having another popular device syncing with their PROPRIETARY software be a good thing? It certainly would facilitate more people buying from their iTunes store...