How Palm Re-Enabled iTunes Sync (The Plot Thickens)
So the big question: How did Palm re-enable iTunes sync? The answer, so far as we an tell, is to go even deeper in their efforts to make the Pre look like an iPod. I just plugged my 1.1 Pre into my Mac in Media Sync mode and sure enough …
Context & Ripple Effects
Nine days after Apple blocked the Pre from syncing with iTunes, Palm has shipped webOS 1.1 and the workaround is out: per PreCentral's testing, the fix works by making the Pre look even more like an iPod when plugged into a Mac in Media Sync mode, so iTunes treats it as one of Apple's own devices.
The stakes were set by the earlier reporting: Computerworld's analysis argued the sync flap was already hurting Palm alongside hardware issues, which makes this restore less a technical curiosity than a competitive necessity for a launch-window phone whose headline convenience was iTunes compatibility. Gizmodo's syndicated take framed the spat as Palm accusing Apple of bad USB etiquette — a fight over who owns a device's claimed identity.
First-order effects
- webOS 1.1 Pre owners get iTunes media sync back on their Macs today, restoring the feature Apple's July 15 block removed without needing any new Palm desktop software.
- Apple must now decide whether to break the spoofing again in its next iTunes update, knowing each block-and-restore cycle lands on paying Pre customers rather than on Palm directly.
Second-order effects
- iTunes becomes an active battleground instead of passive infrastructure: every Apple update now carries an implicit test of whether Palm's iPod mimicry survives, forcing Palm to treat each release as a maintenance risk.
- Other non-Apple handset makers gain a proof point that deep USB identity mimicry can keep them inside Apple's sync ecosystem, raising the odds more vendors try the same trick.
Third-order effects
- If vendor-ID spoofing keeps escalating between device makers and platform owners, resolution pressure shifts from ad hoc software blocks toward formal arbitration of USB identity claims by standards bodies — an untested path, since no body has yet ruled in public.
- Sync access hardens into a strategic lever: whoever controls the desktop media pipeline can favor or freeze rivals' devices, making 'will my phone still talk to iTunes next month?' a real purchase consideration.
The trend: Platform owners are turning sync and media access into a walled-garden control point, while locked-out device makers respond by impersonating approved hardware at the USB layer.