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

Jake Widman
Friday, 05 June 2009 00:40

Your IT - Mobility

Johansen further speculates that the Pre will be able to respond to a special USB command from iTunes that retrieves an XML file with information about the USB device, and to implement a filesystem that "mimics the structure of an iPod."

The obvious next question is, does Apple care, and if so, what can they do about it?

The company has taken both technical and legal action over the years to maintain iTunes as the only software that can sync with iPods. In 2007, Apple added a hashing algorithm to the iTunes database file on iPods to prevent applications other than iTunes from syncing to the Apple devices.

That algorithm was quickly reverse-engineered, allowing applications like Winamp and MediaMonkey to sync with Apple devices.

Upon the introduction of the iPhone, Apple created a more complex version of the hash, effectively locking out third-party applications from syncing to the devices.

Late last year, claiming copyright issues, Apple lawyers demanded that the BluWiki site remove discussions about how users might reverse engineer the algorithm to enable iPods and iPhones to work with media management software other than iTunes.

So Apple has shown itself willing to try and block alternatives to iTunes from syncing with iPods. But will it try to block other devices from syncing with iTunes?

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