One of the features that made Palm’s recently launched Palm Pre smartphone stand out in an increasingly crowded market was the ability to sync non-copy protected songs with Apple’s iTunes software.
Much to the chagrin of Apple, Palm’s engineers had figured out a way to build iTunes synchronisation into the Pre – something no other smartphone maker (other than Apple) had managed to do. This achievement was perhaps not so surprising since many had been recruited by Jon Rubinstein, who helped develop the iPod at Apple before joining Palm in 2007.
After the Pre was announced, Apple issued a rather testy statement warning that, “because software changes over time, newer versions of Apple’s iTunes software may no longer provide syncing functionality with non-Apple digital media players.”
Sure enough, on Wednesday this week Apple rolled out an iTunes update – iTunes 8.2.1 – which, Apple said, “addresses an issue with verifying Apple devices.” Translation: The new version blocks the iTunes sync feature built into the Pre.
There are of course workarounds, including copying songs over manually from a PC or Mac using the USB connection, or using one of several third-party synchronisation packages, but none are quite as simple.
So what was the value to Palm of ensuring that the Palm Pre smartphone could sync with Apple’s iTunes, albeit for just five weeks after the launch? Interestingly the stock market provided a clue.
Investors wiped almost 5 per cent or $400m off the value of company when trading opened on Thursday, although the stock bounced back to close 1 per cent higher at $15.06 at the close and is still up more than fourfold this year.
