Palm's little to and fro game with Apple is back in spotlight yet again, as they once more synchronized their Pre to be compatible with with Apple's iTunes. They took this step ignoring several warnings from a standards group last month.
Palm gains upper hand:
Palm had released its Pre line and made iTunes compatible to the phone. In response, Apple has time and again introduced iTunes updates to counter this move. This time, though, gaining the upper hand again, Palm introduced webOS 1.2.1, and got it's users the iTunes privilege again.
In a post to a company blog, Jon Zilber, Palm's director of online communications said, "This release also re-enables the ability of Palm media sync to work with the current version of iTunes."
Inching one step ahead, this time Palm with webOS 1.2.1, also introduced photo synchronization via iTunes in its new model.
Apple attempts were frantic when they introduced an update of Itunes in early September, which was again updated on September 22 to a version 9.0.1. This version was uncooperative with the Pre, but Palm's recent webOS had made that futile.
How Palm does it:
Palm's approach towards hacking Apple's Itunes so successfully are that they “trick” iTunes into recognizing the Pre as an Apple iPod by making use of the device and product numbers which have been originally reserved for the Apple hardware.
Inviting reproach:
Both the battling companies are a pat of the USB Implementers' Forum (USB-IF), a non profit organization. USB-IF has rebuked Palm from using Apple's product and device numbers. It was only two weeks ago that USB-IF supported Apple in their tiff with Palm, and through a letter, reproached Palm for flouting company policy.
They told Palm, "Under the Policy, Palm may only use the single Vendor ID issued to Palm for Palm's usage. Usage of any other company's Vendor ID is specifically precluded. Palm's expressed intent to use Apple's VID appears to violate the attached policy."
USB-IF, including Palm and Apple decided to stay mum on the subject, and refrain from any comments. Traci Donnell, USB-IF's executive director said, "The USB-IF has been contacted by its members Palm Inc. and Apple Inc. regarding the use of USB-IF Vendor IDs and the Vendor ID policy. Yesterday, the USB-IF communicated its position on the matter to both companies. The USB-IF does not intend to comment publicly on this matter at this time."
The spat had started in June when Palm started telling its Pre customers that they could choose to use iTunes to sync the music they had on their Macs and Pc's with their phones.
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