Posted on October 5th, 2009 by Dave Stevenson

Palm should leave Apple alone

palm I challenge you to name something – anything – more ludicrous than the war of attrition being waged by Palm against Apple.

I realise that looks the wrong way round. Palm is the smaller company. The weedy David to Apple’s giant Goliath. But each time the chance to go to war with a company several times its size has been presented, Palm has reached for it with both hands like a 19-stone man lunging for cake.

I’m talking, in case you’re not following the smartphone market as closely as you should, about Palm’s moronic battle to keep the Pre compatible with iTunes.

Now the Pre has been patched to work with iTunes again, a development so tedious it may as well have been written by Dan Brown. Does Palm really think people will buy the Pre because you can use it with iTunes?

The story so far goes like this. Palm releases the Pre in June. One of the claims the marketers made at the time was that it was compatible with iTunes. It was a sort of hook to get iTunes or iPhone users to think about transferring because they wouldn’t have to change their music software.

But iTunes is only for Apple hardware. It’s a bit silly, I grant you, but it’s Apple’s software and I suppose Apple can do whatever it wants with it. It could make iTunes only compatible with people whose names began with ‘H’, if it wanted.

So a few weeks later Apple releases iTunes 8.2.1. If you had a Pre and you upgraded iTunes, iTunes would no longer work with your handset.

Then Palm released a new version of the Pre’s firmware, and iTunes started working again.

Then Apple released iTunes 9, and the Pre was once again incompatible.

It’s at this point everyone watching began gnawing the side of their hands and wishing that Palm, or Apple, or ideally both, would vanish off the face of the planet.

Now the Pre has been patched to work with iTunes 9 again, a development so monumentally tedious and predictable it might as well have been written by Dan Brown. Does Palm really think people will buy the Pre because you can use it with iTunes?

Then there’s the very questionable wisdom of getting into a scrap with one of the world’s most successful smartphone manufacturers at a time when your own survival is anything but guaranteed. Palm is a company which had to clarify a few days ago that it wasn’t laying people off. No, it’s “better aligning our staff with our business objectives,” which could mean anything. And even if it’s not firing people, it lost $164.5 million dollars in the first quarter of 2009, and that’s bad news however you look at it.

The constant tit-for-tat is being started by Palm every time. It’s bad for the Pre’s image, not least because those likely to buy it – consumers – are unlikely to tolerate repeatedly being shut out of iTunes while Palm scrambles to release another update for long. Palm should let iTunes go and leave Apple alone. It has enough problems already.

Tags: apple, iTunes, palm, pre

Posted in: Hardware

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12 Responses to “ Palm should leave Apple alone ”

Toby Marshan Says:
October 5th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
To be honest, I think it makes Apple look sillier than Palm. The big guy keeps snatching its ball from the wee kid and saying “No, it’s mine. You’re not playing with it.” They’re just asking for an anti-trust case.
Pete Says:
October 5th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Why do people keep looking at Apple through rose-tinted glasses?

If this were Microsoft I doubt you’d be as sympathetic to their bullying attempts to put their competitors out of business.
Chris Says:
October 5th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
It’s easy to bash Apple, but I agree with the thesis that Palm are damaging their own reputation. Plenty of third party apps work with iTunes thru the published interfaces. Why can’t Palm write their own iTunes syncing app rather than making themselves look untrustworthy and disreputable with these antics?
Joel Says:
October 5th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Actually, one of the things that makes me lean towards the Pre over one of the Android phones is the iTunes sync. And I know that Palm could write their own syncing app, but that means more software to install, more running it the background, have to open the other app to tell it to sync, etc. It honestly is somewhat more of a hassle. And, since its an unnecessary hassle, I don’t like it. Plus, we could use DoubleTwist or another, better music organizer, but that doesn’t have the Music Store built in. So everything is more of a hassle because of Apple’s behavior.

Furthermore, I view it as Apple behaving similar to Microsoft in the browser wars. I mean, what if Windows didn’t let you install Firefox? Apple is deliberately not letting Palm work with their software, and I really don’t see a difference.
Mark Says:
October 5th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
@Dave: I don’t get it, why do you care, or do you really believe twice tweaking the firmware is distracting Palm from properly managing its future?
Nicomo Says:
October 5th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
The end of the day its just cash, Apple didn’t write it for any other hardware, but if they did they would receive money for their work. Palm and others want to connect to iTunes (Personally I don’t) but Apple wont let anyone else connect with their toys – because they say if its got bugs in it will harm their name and reputation.

I’d rather Palm either get out of this fight or other companies join forces and do battle! At the end of the day Apple’s iTunes will still be earning ca$h.
Andrew Maclarty Says:
October 5th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
I am against monopolies. Amazon, Google etc will ultimately rob us of choice, and in the absence of competition quality will suffer.
In the early years of this decade in a moment of weakness I bought an Apple Power Book G4 following some drivers trouble. Previously I had refused to consider the make because of bad experience with another American monopoly. I had just come home following a month in hospital for a critical illness and concluded I was still suffering from delayed aneasthetic confusion. What clinched the sale was the claim Mac would now run Office. Imagine my dismay when so many keyboard shortcuts would not work, then to be told not to try Access any more as it would not run on a Mac. Many paragraphs could be filled with complaints.
Around that time columnists began to concede that the Mac was now not as good as the opposition. Still trumpeting their superiority Apple switched to Intel processors before their market share slumped, and got away with it. What angered me most was that I would have had to spend £2,500 to buy Apple software, almost a bridge-burning decision.
Yes, it does boot up quickly, but then so did my dedicated 1990 word-processor. It is OK for surfing the web, but so is a PC at quarter the price.
Now I have been given an iPhone by someone who switched back to Sony-Ericsson-(why?) It also has its faults. Just why PCPro gave it so much coverage last issue I cannot imagine–and they don’t need the free advertising, they get plenty from the Beeb !
Good luck Pre, challenge the creeping monopoly. Why don’t you engage the man who sold the Emperors invisible clothes to handle your advertising, for it worked well for Apple. A.M.
David W Says:
October 6th, 2009 at 5:59 am
The problem is, Palm are opening themselves up to litigation. They complained to the USB Forum, that Apple kept blocking their devices.

The USB Forum pointed out that a) Apple weren’t blocking the Palm Pre’s USB Id, the device still worked and synched with the computer, they just didn’t let it sync with iTunes.

b) Palm were spoofing the Apple manufacturer Id – the unique code assigned to each manufacturer, so user/user’s computer can tell who made the product.

The USB Forum told Palm to cease and desist. Palm doesn’t like the USB Forum any more…

Given that Apple have an open interface into iTunes – an XML file with all the library information, which allows third parties to sync their devices with the iTunes music library – I really can’t understand why Palm keep making themselves look like idiots, instead of using the official interface and providing their own sync module, like RIM do, for example.
Justin Says:
October 6th, 2009 at 10:35 am
“but it’s Apple’s software and I suppose Apple can do whatever it wants with it.”

Apparently Apple can, but nobody is allowed the same leeway.
David Wright Says:
October 6th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
“Apparently Apple can, but nobody is allowed the same leeway”

Palm can do what they want with their own software. But they are illegally spoofing the manufacturer ID on the USB bus – Palm have their own ID, but are deliberately breaking their licensing agreements and spoofing another manufacturers ID; the hardware equivalent of writing a tojan.

There is nothing to stop their own sync program using Apple’s XML file to access the iTunes library to allow them to sync, but they instead choose to not write their own software and try and gain off of other people’s hard work…

If Apple were illegally blocking Palm, I would be down on them – much like the Google/Apple debacle at the moment in the States – but in this case Palm are in the wrong, they’ve been informed by a third party body that they are in the wrong and breaking their licence agreement, yet they ignore that and carry on as before…
muck Says:
October 6th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Who are they harming?
It doesn’t hurt Apple or the iPhone or anyone. Let them do it
Steve Cassidy Says:
October 7th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Is this Palm the same Palm that had a good 18 months to 2 years *at least* of owning the PDA market? Live by the monopoly, die by the monopoly!