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Palm Pre "iTunes Hack" Detailed By DVD Jon
CNETNate writes "As the reviews of the Palm Pre start to roll in, DVD Jon expands on previous coverage of the Pre showing up in iTunes as some sort of an iPod, by publishing the offending code Palm has used to enabled the feature. As suspected, in regular USB mode, the phone addresses itself as a standard peripheral. But in 'Media Sync' mode, it claims to be an iPod ... from a vendor known as Apple."
Apple could sue, and Palm could counter-sue with antitrust claims. After all, Apple does control most of the music market via iTunes.
I vaguely recall a lawsuit where Apple was sued for limiting the iPod to only iTunes (Apple won), but I don't think anybody has challenged the reverse (using something else with iTunes) in court.
Silly Apple, if it only identifies its devices via a USB identifier, but interacts with them in standard, easily emulated ways, all the while going for the exclusivity angle.
Silly Palm, for thinking Apple will take this lying down. But kudos for the balls to do it anyway.
Two points:
1) This is impossible for Apple to block. If according to USB it's an iPod, how can Apple distinguish? They can try to see if any little details are missing, but in the end any probing they do can easily be met by Palm.
Nor is it even unsafe, because the code to support older iPods is pretty stable and will not change over time - the older iPods will always be supported.
2) I'm pretty sure Apple sill not sue. What legality is there around USB identifiers? Nothing. The only hook there is the Apple string in the ID, but I don't think it's enough to put a case around. Why bother with the expense of a suit.
It's a clever idea from Palm and I applaud them for it.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Whereas the current generation of iPods is usable with open source software? Gimmie a break dude.
Hell no it's not, but my 4G Photo worked just fine. Since I replaced it with an 80GB model, I've been cursing the purchase ever since.
I went to eat some animal crackers and the box said, "Do not eat if seal is broken." I opened the box and sure enough..
In TFA, DVD Jon says this:
Emphasis added by me.
I agree with him: all Apple has to do is add code to check the root USB node, see that the device is a Palm Pre, and refuse to accept the device as an iPod.
P.S. If Palm had just gone to Apple and said "we want to make the Palm Pre sync with iTunes", would Apple have been reasonable about it? I saw a comment on Slashdot mentioning that there are non-Apple devices that sync with iTunes, implying that Apple can be reasonable. But in this case, the Pre is competing with the iPhone! I imagine Apple would do anything they could to sandbag a competitor, including denying iTunes.
Apple won't sue Palm. But I won't be surprised if they do this check and lock the Pre out of iTunes.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
Not sure if it did violate the DMCA, they are not breaking encryption but only saying "Yeah, I'm an iPod..."
Okay, I'm a developer, and the phones environment is pretty snazzy these days. But here's pretty much what I have for choices.
My needs:
Tethering, Music (ghetto iPod), Skye (maybe), custom app development.
AT&T:
Blackberry Curve 8900 - no touchscreen, QWERTY keyboard, SD card
iPhone - Touchscreen, no QWERTY keyboard
Verizon:
Palm Centro - WinMo (ick) - QWERTY, SD card, Touchscreen
Blackberry Storm - no QWERTY, no touchscreen, SD card
TMo
Blackberry Curve 8900
Android G1 -> qwerty keyboard, touchscreen, sd card
Sidekick XL
Sprint:
Palm Treo 800/750: qwerty, touchscreen, sd card
Palm Pre : Touchscreen, qwerty, sd card?
I *LIKE* the BB/Treo keyboard styles, so landscape style keyboards kind of ruin the experience for me. After playing with a G1 last night, I'm not convinced. I think it's come down to a WinMo treo, BB 8900, or the Pre if I like how it feels.
I've been a Verizon customer for 12 years. I love my service - I'm loath to leave, but Verizon has been on the shit-end of the smartphone arena for too long.
>>Apple either responds with a lawsuit or iTunes patch
The thing is, old iPods will always be supported. There is nothing fancy about what Palm is doing here- it's just two bytes that represent "Apple" during the handshake. These are the same two bytes throughout the iPod line, and changing them would mean either: a hack workaround which changed the handshake but that still allowed both new and old, which would allow the Pre to work; or updating iTunes and all the devices to show a new handshake which would take about 10 seconds to patch on the Pre.
The second scenario would entail a lot of negative PR for Apple without really changing the playing field. After the so-called "brick patch' that "broke" Jailbroken iPhones, I don't think Apple would try that tactic again.
-b
No offense, but I've stopped responding to AC's.