Neil HughesPalm announced the update Thursday on the company's blog. Pre users can expect the new software to arrive via an over-the-air update.
"Oh, and one more thing: Palm webOS 1.1 re-enables Palm media sync," the post reads. "That’s right — you once again can have seamless access to your music, photos and videos from the current version of iTunes (8.2.1)."
Last week, Apple released iTunes 8.2.1. In accompanying release notes, the company was vague about what the upgrade actually did, stating only that the update provided "a number of important bug fixes and addresses an issue with verification of Apple devices."
But soon after the new version of iTunes was released, Pre users realized that the update had broken their ability to sync music with the software.
Beyond iTunes, webOS 1.1 brings a number of updates focused on business users, including remote wipe, inactivity timeout, improved certificate handling and more for Exchange ActiveSync. The update also provides emoticons in the messaging app.
When they unveiled the handset, Palm boasted about their smartphone's ability to transfer media from iTunes. The feature worked by identifying the Pre in its hardware ID as an iPod — a trick Apple warned might not work for long.
Last month, Apple warned Pre users that future software updates may kill sync capability with the device.
"Apple designs the hardware and software to provide seamless integration of the iPhone and iPod with iTunes, the iTunes Store, and tens of thousands of apps on the App Store," Apple warned a document released in June. "Apple is aware that some third-parties claim that their digital media players are able to sync with Apple software. However, Apple does not provide support for, or test for compatibility with, non-Apple digital media players."
In its blog post, Palm declined to elaborate on how they circumvented the changes presented in iTunes 8.2.1.
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166 Comments
i'm sure apple has several pre phones to test and figure out how they hacked the itunes thing
why don't they just sue them, its invasion of intellectual property, sure looks like palm is spitting in apples face, seems personal. i can't wait for SJ to fire back, but it will be more than a simple itunes upgrade
Apple should right some sort of virus thing that hits your Pre when you sync it like they wrote the iWork one =P
Palm needs to stop being such rank amateurs and write their own sync software. It was unprofessional of them the first time, when they weren't sure that Apple would stop iTunes from delivering music to them. But now it's almost criminally negligent.
i'm sure apple has several pre phones to test and figure out how they hacked the itunes thing
why don't they just sue them, its invasion of intellectual property, sure looks like palm is spitting in apples face, seems personal. i can't wait for SJ to fire back, but it will be more than a simple itunes upgrade
They used to let 3rd party MP3 players sync with iTunes; now that there aren't any 3rd party MP3 players left on the market, what's the harm in letting the Palm Pre sync with iTunes?
They used to let 3rd party MP3 players sync with iTunes; now that there aren't any 3rd party MP3 players left on the market, what's the harm in letting the Palm Pre sync with iTunes?
What would be the harm in Palm syncing the music themselves, right out of iTunes' library?
"Gas, ass or grass."