iTunes update blocks Palm Pre

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 16 July 2009 04:02

Opinion and Analysis

The latest update for iTunes stops the Palm Pre from synchronising with the iTunes library. It also delivers unspecified but supposedly "important" bug fixes.

In early June, Palm launched its Pre smartphone which, among the things, features the ability to synchronise with iTunes as it it were an iPod or iPhone.

A couple of weeks later, Apple issued the following warning: "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."

At the time, several commentators interpreted this not as a warning to potential and actual Pre buyers that they should not rely on iTunes synchronisation continuing to work, but as a direct threat - aimed at Palm - to 'fix' iTunes so that the Pre will no longer sync.

Which brings us to the newly-released iTunes 8.2.1.

According to a typically terse note from Apple, "iTunes 8.2.1 provides a number of important bug fixes and addresses an issue with verification of Apple devices."

If the latter point is really about stopping non-Apple devices from working, then it seems disingenuous of the company to talk about "verification of Apple devices".

And it seems Apple's action was deliberate - please read on.