New iTunes From Apple Halts Palm Pre's Access
16 July 2009 - 5:13AM
Dow Jones News
The latest version of iTunes from Apple Inc. (AAPL) has cut off
rival Palm Inc.'s (PALM) Pre smartphone.
Apple's online music and video bazaar now "disables devices
falsely pretending to be iPods," which includes Palm's Pre, an
Apple spokesman said.
The Pre smartphone has been able to access iTunes since going on
sale in the U.S. in early June. But it was always unclear whether
the Pre was doing so with Apple's permission. Given the latest
iTunes update, Palm appears to have been acting on its own.
The development is a negative one for Palm, which is counting on
Pre sales to turn around the company. With the move, Apple has
dramatically limited one of the Pre's key competitive advantages:
downloading music and videos from Apple's iTunes.
"If Apple chooses to disable media sync in iTunes, it will be a
direct blow to their users who will be deprived of a seamless
synchronization experience," Palm spokesman Lynn Fox said,
"However, people will have options," which include using
previous versions of iTunes that are still Pre-compatible, she
added.
For Apple, the new iTunes underscores its commitment to allow
only authorized devices, such as its iPods and iPhones, to access
its iTunes music store, which helps it corral more of the
profits.
"As we've said before, newer versions of Apple's iTunes software
may no longer provide syncing functionality with unsupported
digital media players," the Apple spokesman added.
Apple shares were trading 3.1% higher at $146.72, while Palm
shares are up 4.9% to $15.34.
-By Ben Charny; Dow Jones Newswires; 415-765-8230;
ben.charny@dowjones.com