Palm Pre said to sync up nicely with Apple's iTunes

There's been no direct confirmation just yet, but Fortune has it that Palm's hotly anticipated Pre actually syncs with iTunes. Yeah, iTunes. According to the report, the Pre works "seamlessly" with iTunes on a Mac, with the only notable limitation being that it can't handle older DRM-laced files from the sad, sad days of our past. Even wilder, we're told that the iTunes Store "treats the Pre just as it would an iPod or an iPhone" save for the aforesaid exception, which leads us to wonder how Apple will react. There's little doubt that this factoid sweetens the Pre value proposition for diligent Mac users, but is this functionality kosher with the software's creator? We already saw Tim Cook glance sternly at Palm while uttering that if anyone else "ripped off its intellectual property, it would go after them," and we highly doubt he plans on backing down if push comes to shove. If true, this could definitely trigger an interesting chain of events -- we'll know soon enough, now won't we?

[Via TUAW]

[cbw87 @ May 28th 2009 10:04AM]

RELEASE THE HOUNDS!

I jest, of course.

[James @ May 28th 2009 11:31AM]

Nooooooooooooooo!

agavagahrhazhkghskfhkfdkdjkyth;opfdggsvbnnmdbbd

[William @ May 28th 2009 10:04AM]

And the Apple fanboys are enraged!

[Paul a. Chapel @ May 28th 2009 10:28AM]

Huh? Shouldn't the Apple Haters be outraged? They're the ones who are always complaining that iTunes is such a piece of shite. Now because of this, Apple will get even more market share with Sprint users. They will start browsing the App Store and wonder why it is they don't have access to the 40,000 apps available. Perhaps they will compensate by buying an iPod touch.

This is a Win/Win situation for Apple.

[Chris Are @ May 28th 2009 10:38AM]

I'd call myself something of an Apple fanboy (though even if I had AT&T or T-Mobe I wouldn't get an iPhone) and I'm ecstatic about this news! I can use my new Palm Pre w/ my Macbook nearly flawlessly!

[XGM @ May 28th 2009 10:42AM]

Hmm no, that makes me happy that it will work actually.

[Newone @ May 28th 2009 10:47AM]

Or confused, its bad it syncs with itunes as it takes iphone market/its good it syncs with mac giving more market for macs.

Its bad, good, bad, good, bad, goooood, baaaaaad, good, bad, good, bad, good.....

Take cover, imminent headexplosions coming up

[Paul a. Chapel @ May 28th 2009 10:51AM]

Oops, the comments below illustrate my point. The Apple Haters are already moaning about how much they hate iTunes, but this is because they understand that iTunes is a gateway drug for the Mac.

[Kelmon @ May 28th 2009 11:02AM]

Yeah, I don't get this either - why would anyone who uses iTunes be "enraged" by this news? Surely those users are doing a little dance instead and hoping that Apple doesn't do something to nix what is otherwise useful functionality.

[James Burley @ May 28th 2009 11:19AM]

I'm not. Pretty sweet actually.

[hangfire @ May 28th 2009 11:24AM]

i like apple and i like the idea of other media devices working with itunes,
more competition will lead to better devices at lower prices,
a win for all,
especially for apple and its itunes store

[Aaron @ May 28th 2009 11:28AM]

iTunes is not a gateway drug to the mac. If anything, they'd see how painfully slow and crappy iTunes runs on Windows.

[gb @ May 28th 2009 11:36AM]

Am I mistaken, but in the early days of itunes and mp3 players, weren't you able to sync any mp3 player in itunes? I seem to recall using itunes when I had a 64mb player. Not surprising they removed this functionality, but I'm pretty sure it was there at some point. I really hate that you can't sync other players now. But I also hate the fact that since i own a mac, i can't even consider getting a zune, which i actually would've at some point.

[Kizorblade @ May 28th 2009 11:37AM]

@OP

It's comments like yours that make me just want to do a facepalm.

/Facepalm

[Zak @ May 28th 2009 11:53AM]

William - Uh, no you idiot. Pre syncing with iTunes = GOOD. I have more questions about the details like if iTunes will do a full backup of the Pre like it does iPhones, but I can't see how anybody who uses Macs would see this as a bad thing.

[Will @ May 28th 2009 11:55AM]

@Paul we are enraged because itunes sucks. It is the most locked up, closed source program out there. Pretty much every media player that you can download is more customizable than itunes (and doesn't have that lame auto sync feature which causes its users to lose all of their songs on their ipod).

[Paul a. Chapel @ May 28th 2009 11:59AM]

You see, the Apple Haters ARE outraged, LOL. I'm glad you people came here and helped to prove my point. Thanks.

[Zak @ May 28th 2009 12:09PM]

Will: Ignorance is not your friend, man. Step away from the stupid. Auto syncing in iTunes is OPTIONAL. If you don't like it, turn it off. How is it locked up when it accepts so many different types of audio and video standards? AAC is an actual audio standard, it's not even slightly proprietary. Your arguments against iTunes are idiotic at best.

[iphonerulez @ May 28th 2009 12:21PM]

Who cares if the Pre syncs with iTunes or not except for the few Palm Pre users. Not that it makes much sense. If they were smart and wanted a cellphone that syncs with iTunes, they should have gone out and bought an iPhone. Surely Mac owners aren't going to go out and buy a Pre. People are known to be crying about how crappy iTunes is for managing music, anyway. Pre users should be content with drag and drop management of files or whatever people use in place of iTunes. Doesn't the Pre have it's own media management program? Potential Pre users would likely be the type to be wanting the all-you-can-eat subscription music services.

Apple fanboys don't hate Pre users. Can't. Pre users don't yet exist. Nearly nobody has a Pre or stands much of a chance of getting one in the near future. Currently, the Pre is just an insignificant bug ready to be squashed by most of the smartphone industry. Google has said that there will be 20 to 30 Android-powered smartphones next year. The Pre is going to be lost in the flood of Android devices which everyone said would dominate. There have been lots of claims that the Android platform is far better than every other platform, WebOS included. Good luck, Palm against Android's 900% growth rate.

[Shyam D @ May 28th 2009 12:23PM]

Let's wait and see if Apple publically gives this their blessing or not. That could open up iTunes to other mp3 players as well as phones. Otherwise, this is definately a good thing.

I also want to see ZunePass Integration on the Pre. Nothing like freedom of choice. Could lead to ZunePass on the iPod and iPhone. Oh the possibilities.

[Aaron @ May 28th 2009 12:27PM]

@Shyam D
Nokia already produce a plug-in for their Symbian phones. Palm aren't the first on the block here.

[Paul a. Chapel @ May 28th 2009 12:28PM]

But there's another point everyone should consider. A know a lot of Blackberry users who have iPod touches. Some of them have Blackberries because they're required at work, others have them because they can't get corporate discounts with the iPhone. In fact, I had a friend that told me exactly that. He said that if Apple had given his employer a corporate discount, then he would have an iPhone.

But that's funny to me, because he just bought an iPod touch. I have another friend who needs iTunes because he's a minister and his church publishes their sermons on iTunes through podcasts. iTunes is becoming the standard for a lot of things that have nothing to do with iPods and iPhones.

So this is more good news for Apple. This will be even better if Apple releases an iPod touch with a video camera because I know a bunch of people who would ditch their Flip cameras immediately if this happened.

[Dummy00001 @ May 28th 2009 10:04AM]

Apple breaking Pry sync with iTunes in 3 ... 2 ...

We have seen before lots of nice accidental features Apple have pretty much intentionally killed with simple software/firmware update.

[insky @ May 28th 2009 10:16AM]

Expect iTunes 8.2 to arrive June 7th with "New Features".

[Mikeweezer @ May 28th 2009 12:46PM]

Apple could very well shoot themselves in the foot by breaking compatibility. Palm would be able to make a compelling arguement for an Apple monopoly & gov't intervention if they try to lock out the third party from the application.

I know this arguement has been made before, but I don't think iTunes was quite the size it is today.

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ May 28th 2009 2:35PM]

Yeah, we'll have to see what Apple does about this. They are pretty erratic when it comes to what they do and don't like to work with their s/w.

I think part of the problem is they hate having to worry about compatibility -- You never know what changes they might make in iTunes that will accidentally break Pre compatibility, and they don't want to feel like they have to test iTunes with a million different devices each time they release a new revision. This is the problem Microsoft faces -- by supporting tons of hardware, they have to spend absurd amounts of time and money on QA, and even then it's a total crapshoot.

It looks bad if they allow the Pre to sync, but then accidentally break it later because they don't know what hooks in the code the Pre depends on. But it also looks bad if they intentionally break it.

Also, from a business standpoint, which is more important? Does iTunes sell Macs? Do iPhones sell Macs? They probably care more about locking the Pre out because iTunes doesn't really make them money, but the iPhone does.

But if iTunes compatibility helps remove a barrier to Mac acceptance, maybe it's worth spending the time and effort supporting the Pre going forward. I bet there is a meeting in Cupertino about this right now.

[atlasfugged @ May 29th 2009 1:19AM]

@UnixSystemEngineer: iTunes serves two primary purposes for Apple: (1) As a conduit to their Media and Apps store, and (2) as software which integrates iPods and iPhones with this store, with the user's computer, and with the internet (especially in the case of non-Touch iPods). The relative seamlessness of the latter, in my opinion, contributes most to the success of iTunes, the iTunes Store and Apple's media players and phones. I wouldn't consider iTunes to be a mechanism whereby Apple attracts users to its personal computers. After all, iTunes is available for Windows.

I think you bring up a good point about the effort required to ensure compatibility. Why would Apple expend their intellectual and financial resources to ensure that a competitor is compatible with their software? It doesn't make sense from a business perspective, particularly given that the Pre's success is far from guaranteed and given the success Apple has had in exclusively supporting iPhones and iPods. It also doesn't conform to Apple's history of being notoriously exclusive. I don't expect the Pre to be supported in any future releases of iTunes. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if Apple deliberately attempts to defeat any future compatibility with the Pre.

[tekd @ May 31st 2009 7:43PM]

Yeah I recall how quickly Real Player's attempt at having their DRM work on ipods resulted in Apple firmware updates (required of course to use the newest itunes) that broke support. Not to mention if you've purchased any itunes tracks they'd expire unless you synced with itunes. And "mysteriously" Real Player stopped syncing even on old firmwares for me.

Wonder how long it'll take before itunes suddenly doesn't recognize Pres

[Jay Voorhees @ May 28th 2009 10:07AM]

This is like that sceen from the sandlot when smalls and the gang go play on the preppy field and serve them a beat down. Apple should be afraid. Very afraid.

[Zak @ May 28th 2009 12:14PM]

Afraid of what? Afraid that Pre owners can use iTunes to buy music from Apple?

OH NOES MORE REVENUE

Stop being stupid people. Please. Just give it a rest for a while.

[Mikey @ May 28th 2009 12:42PM]

Zak, take your own advice and stop being stupid. Don't comment on every little post that you think is stupid... it just makes you look like a raving D-bag.

[Zak @ May 28th 2009 12:46PM]

Mikey - Pot, kettle, black? Or are you going to pretend you didn't just do what you were complaining about? Or wait, let me guess - you think hypocrisy only applies to other people, and not you. Yeah. Let me know when you have a valid counter-point to anything I say, thanks.

[Anton Wahlman @ May 28th 2009 10:11AM]

Blackberry has been doing this since... last October? I'd therefore be shocked if Palm couldn't do it 8 months thereafter. With Blackberry, it happens if you go to www.blackberry.com/mediasync - and then it syncs, sans the DRM-protected content.

[Andrew Moulton @ May 28th 2009 10:09AM]

the palm pre should just quietly fail, so Palm will suffer, then Apple can buy palm, and use their teams to work on iPhones, ect.

[Alan Strangis @ May 28th 2009 10:21AM]

One of us gooble gobble!

[Duke @ May 28th 2009 10:34AM]

God forbid there is competition in the market.

[Chris Are @ May 28th 2009 10:39AM]

you're the reason the person above made that apple fanboy joke.

[Amon @ May 28th 2009 11:16AM]

are you a apple shareholder? why would you bother otherwise, whoever makes a good phone and the works should be fine with any non-apple shareholder!

[Templarian @ May 28th 2009 10:10AM]

Because it is simple drag and drop, almost every media player can sync with it. The way it should be.

iTunes cares far too much about money, so they may actually not block this. Although whats to stop people from dragging the songs off once they are synced, so they will probably kill it with a firmware before it's released.

[Najakwa @ May 28th 2009 10:24AM]

Logic has led you to that conclusion, too bad these companies fight like little children.

[Kelmon @ May 28th 2009 11:06AM]

If the deciding factor in whether or not Apple continues to let the Pre sync with iTunes for music is the money then expect to see this functionality removed - Apple makes much more money on the hardware (iPod/iPhone) than it does on the media you can buy from the iTunes Store.

[cbw87 @ May 28th 2009 11:09AM]

You misunderstand; Apple barely break even with iTunes music. Apple is a hardware company, and their software, iTunes, OS X, iPhone OS - all exists to sell hardware. Hence the lack of built in third party PMP support on iTunes (and their resistance to the EU's attempts to get them to open iTunes up to third party PMPs, if I remember rightly?). If there was money to be made on the MP3 downloads, Apple would be fine with this and would have opened up third party support long ago (excusing the arguments that it's not Apple's "style" to struggle supporting third party devices), but there isn't.

Hence, Apple will be pissed off at this, since in their eyes, Palm is effectively usurping its popular software, created to sell iPods and iPhones, for the benefit of its Pre.

This + Apple's gnashing about multi-touch patents might turn out to be exciting. Just hope they can figure out some cross-licensing, and that it doesn't cost us Palm.

[Templarian @ May 28th 2009 11:18AM]

Yea, you guys are probably right. Still will be interesting to see once the device is out. Only a few more days.

*gets out popcorn and waits*

[Grindboy @ May 28th 2009 10:11AM]

Well that was unexpected!

[ericjcrane @ May 28th 2009 10:11AM]

ok i'm ready now

[Jay Voorhees @ May 28th 2009 10:15AM]

That's too bad. You have to waste 8 days 14 hours and 46 minutes of "now" to start working in the "now"

[insky @ May 28th 2009 10:14AM]

I guess ATT will have yet another thing to edit out of their "Pre Vs. iPhone" document.

[Jay Voorhees @ May 28th 2009 10:58AM]

The only thing left on that list is the "white availability issue"

But if you're thinkin about my baby, it doesn't matter if you're black or white.

[THastings @ May 28th 2009 12:04PM]

honestly Jay, I don't know if a white Pre would look all that great. Black is nice. Maybe a blood red Pre, or a Green Pre. Other than that, no white.

[engadget @ May 28th 2009 10:14AM]

C'mon, really? Would anyone that doesn't have an iPod actually use iTunes voluntarily?

iTunes is the poster boy to show how software shouldn't be written. It's the prime example in all college Programming 101 classes of what not to do.

If I were Palm I would deny any connection with iTunes.