Palm Gets the Official Smackdown For Hacking Pre to Sync With iTunes

Leander Kahney ()

pre-tunes

In an embarrassing turn of events, Palm has gotten the smackdown from a USB industry group over a software hack that enables Palm’s Pre smartphone to sync with iTunes.

When Palm released the Pre earlier this year, the company cleverly spoofed Apple’s unique USB identifier to fool iTunes into thinking the Pre was an Apple device, allowing it to sync songs and playlists. It was a sneaky but daring move for Palm, ensuring the Pre was compatible with the market-leading music software.

But Apple repeatedly disabled the hack with a series of iTunes updates, so Palm sent a letter to the USB Implementers Forum, an industry group that oversees the USB standard, claiming Apple is “hampering competition.”

But in a response to Apple and Palm on Tuesday, the group sided with Apple, saying Palm’s spoofing of Apple’s ID likely violates USB-IF policy.

“Under the Policy, Palm may only use the single Vendor ID issued to Palm for Palm’s usage,” “the group said in a letter obtained by Digital Daily.

“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,” the letter continued.

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Embarrassing. Clearly not the response Palm was hoping for.

The USB Forum asked Palm to clarify its position and respond within seven days. Palm told Digital Daily it is reviewing the Forum’s letter and will “respond as appropriate.”

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About the author

Leander Kahney

is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: Inside Steve’s Brain, the New York Times bestseller about Steve Jobs; Cult of Mac; and Cult of iPod. Leander has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Guardian in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

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Posted in Apple, Hardware Hacks, iTunes, News |

  • http://www.47project.com Rich Harris

    I am an Apple fan and Apple user. With that said, I think they’re being snotty about this.

  • Fuzzypig

    Can’t blame them for trying, but they knew all along they were being rather naughty, especially spoofing an ID of another company, against the agreed requirements of joining the USB governing body!!

  • salsa

    As if their dumb ads weren’t embarrasing enough…

  • Steve O

    @Rich: How is Apple being snotty? Apple has invested countless hours and a lot of money making iTunes as successful as it is. Why does Palm (or anyone) deserve to piggyback on that effort?

  • Tim

    Agreed, serves palm right. They gotta think of their own ideas.

  • http://www.burnleyfansteam.co.uk Kev Robinson

    It serves Palm right for designing the ugliest phone in history.

  • http://www.mr2.org.nz John

    And now we see the problem with proprietary synch protocols, and why iTunes will probably never have a sync protocol.
    But really, what would be involved in adding a sync plugin into iTines? I though it could sync with other third party players as well as iPod.

    I’m glad there is some progress on fixing Plam though, my Amarok player thinks I bought an iPod!