More on the iTunes-Palm Pre connection: what will Apple do?

Jake Widman
Friday, 05 June 2009 00:40

Your IT - Mobility

Last week's news that the Palm Pre smartphone can sync with iTunes has left observers wondering how Palm did it and, perhaps more importantly, whether Apple will care.

As reported last week, Palm announced that Palm Media Sync would be part of the Pre's WebOS operating system.

In addition to enabling Pre owners to buy songs directly from the Amazon MP3 store, Media Sync lets the phone synchronize with an iTunes library to transfer DRM-free music, photos, and videos to the phone.

This may sound like old news to RIM and Nokia smartphone owners, who have been able to use special software to sync some devices from those manufacturers to a dedicated iTunes playlist.

The difference is that the Pre syncs to iTunes just like an iPod does, requiring no extra software or advance preparation of the iTunes library. The only other phone that can do that is, of course, the iPhone.

This has led to speculation -- some informed, some less so -- about how Palm has managed to accomplish the feat technically, and whether they'll be able to maintain the feature legally.

On his blog , John Lech Johansen -- better known as "DVD Jon," the reverse-engineering specialist who helped develop the DeCSS DVD-decrypting software -- guesses the Pre just tells iTunes that it's an iPod.

Johansen writes, "The iPod has a specific USB Vendor ID that identifies it as being an Apple product and a USB Product ID that identifies it as being a specific iPod model....When you select 'Media Sync' on the Pre, it will switch its USB interface to use Apple’s Vendor ID and the Product ID for a specific iPod model."

For Apple's possible response, see Page 2.