David Flynn16 July 2009, 11:37 AM
Palm’s trick of pretending to be an iPod in order to sync with iTunes has been slapped down by Apple, with the latest iTunes 8.2.1 update disabling the Palm Pre’s pseudo-iPod mode.
It was a neat idea while it lasted. Offer native iTunes compatibility – a trait usually limited to the iPod – by pretending to be an iPod rather than, say, a piece of non-Apple hardware such as a smartphone.
That cheeky trick garnered Palm plenty of accolades when it was baked into the Palm Pre, and once again raised the issue of how closed Apple’s ecosystem really is.
Apple has now reinforced its rule over all things within its realm, releasing an update to iTunes which breaks the Palm Pre’s direct link to iTunes.
“iTunes 8.2.1 is a free software update that provides a number of important bug fixes” explained Apple. “It also disables devices falsely pretending to be iPods, including the Palm Pre.”
This puts a hole in the plans of any other companies to offer a similar workaround in order to allow their device to sync with iTunes on the Windows or Mac.
The only other way to get music onto such devices like the Palm Pre is the same cumbersome and consumer-unfriendly route as before – dragging and dropping tracks via USB or buying third-party synchronisation software to achieve something which you’d rightfully expect to be done out of the box.
However, Apple’s move may also spur consumer and industry discussions over the degree of control which Apple exercises and how close this comes to being a restriction of trade.