4 ms·

Apple threatens Palm Pre owners. In a support note.

11 points by technologizer 17y ago

jodrellblank 17y ago
It's odd that Palm would risk this, since desktop sync is typically so poor that I imagine it would be easy for them to do a pretty good job of it. Easy considering things on the scale of creating a new phone and phone operating system and application store, anyway. Have you seen some of the tirades of hatred against ActiveSync there are out there? Nokia PC Suite isn't exactly known as a shining example of a great program and Windows Vista's Mobile Device Center is a typically charmless Microsoft offering.
- duskwuff 17y ago
  From what I understand, the Pre is just using iTunes for media sync. Everything else (contacts, etc.) is handled OTA.
mattmaroon 17y ago
The only thing dumb is this article. It's a pretty big stretch to say Apple is "threatening" anybody or that Palm is engaging in risky behavior. At the worst we'll have a cat and mouse game that Palm will spend most of its time winning. I'm not sure why any sane person would want to that bloated monstrosity anyway when they could just drag and drop.
GHFigs 17y ago
In what bizarro world is not supporting your competitor's products considered threatening behavior?
- ars 17y ago
  You misread it. They threatened to deliberately break support. Yes, on the surface they said "we won't support", but what they actually meant was "we'll break it next version". If all they wanted was just no support they would just ignore the issue. By mentioning it, it's an implied threat.
  - rictic 17y ago
    You say that with a lot of confidence but I can't see how you can possibly be so sure. Furthermore, Apple has already released one update to iTunes since details about the Pre's USB signifiers were known. Breaking support for the Pre as it is would be trivial, it reports itself as a subtly different device over USB, close enough that the current version of iTunes treats it like an iPod but different enough that it should be very simple indeed to block it.
  - GHFigs 17y ago
    How could I have misread something that by your own admission was not part of the text?
  - zcrar70 17y ago
    on the surface they said "we won't support", but what they actually meant was "we'll break it next version". How do you know that?
stevejohnson 17y ago
This article jumps to some pretty ridiculous conclusions. The support note just says that since Apple never promised to support the Pre (for very good reasons I might add), it might break, and in that scenario, it will be up to Palm to fix it. They won't support your jailbroken iPhone for that same reason. Jailbroken iPhones can run background processes which can cause apps to crash due to reduced memory availability. In the case of the Pre, if Apple decides to make some technical change to its syncing protocol that the Pre doesn't support, then you really can't blame them. Remember that if Apple were to implement such a protocol change, they would probably have to update a lot of iPod firmware, resulting in a lot of temporary syncing problems for a lot of users, resulting in an even bigger support nightmare.
ryanwaggoner 17y ago
Sorry, but this article is bullshit. Apple is rightly covering their ass by reminding people that if they're dumb enough to buy non-Apple-supported products because they sync with iTunes, they should be prepared for the very real eventuality that Apple's changes may break that capability in the future. In no way is it threatening Palm Pre owners, just letting them know that Apple won't be responsible when things go south for them. And aside from that, even if Apple is deliberately telling Palm Pre owners that they're going to break support in iTunes, so what? It's their product, they support whatever they want. The tone of this article seems to imply that Apple is doing something wrong here.
lurkinggrue 17y ago
Techcrunch seems to have this gleeful hate of the palm pre. No shock that they are not going to support it but I don't read that as they are going to block it.

11 points by technologizer 17y ago

It's odd that Palm would risk this, since desktop sync is typically so poor that I imagine it would be easy for them to do a pretty good job of it. Easy considering things on the scale of creating a new phone and phone operating system and application store, anyway. Have you seen some of the tirades of hatred against ActiveSync there are out there? Nokia PC Suite isn't exactly known as a shining example of a great program and Windows Vista's Mobile Device Center is a typically charmless Microsoft offering.

duskwuff 17y ago
From what I understand, the Pre is just using iTunes for media sync. Everything else (contacts, etc.) is handled OTA.

mattmaroon 17y ago

The only thing dumb is this article. It's a pretty big stretch to say Apple is "threatening" anybody or that Palm is engaging in risky behavior. At the worst we'll have a cat and mouse game that Palm will spend most of its time winning. I'm not sure why any sane person would want to that bloated monstrosity anyway when they could just drag and drop.

GHFigs 17y ago

In what bizarro world is not supporting your competitor's products considered threatening behavior?

ars 17y ago
You misread it. They threatened to deliberately break support. Yes, on the surface they said "we won't support", but what they actually meant was "we'll break it next version". If all they wanted was just no support they would just ignore the issue. By mentioning it, it's an implied threat.
- rictic 17y ago
  You say that with a lot of confidence but I can't see how you can possibly be so sure. Furthermore, Apple has already released one update to iTunes since details about the Pre's USB signifiers were known. Breaking support for the Pre as it is would be trivial, it reports itself as a subtly different device over USB, close enough that the current version of iTunes treats it like an iPod but different enough that it should be very simple indeed to block it.
- GHFigs 17y ago
  How could I have misread something that by your own admission was not part of the text?
- zcrar70 17y ago
  on the surface they said "we won't support", but what they actually meant was "we'll break it next version". How do you know that?

stevejohnson 17y ago

This article jumps to some pretty ridiculous conclusions. The support note just says that since Apple never promised to support the Pre (for very good reasons I might add), it might break, and in that scenario, it will be up to Palm to fix it. They won't support your jailbroken iPhone for that same reason. Jailbroken iPhones can run background processes which can cause apps to crash due to reduced memory availability. In the case of the Pre, if Apple decides to make some technical change to its syncing protocol that the Pre doesn't support, then you really can't blame them. Remember that if Apple were to implement such a protocol change, they would probably have to update a lot of iPod firmware, resulting in a lot of temporary syncing problems for a lot of users, resulting in an even bigger support nightmare.

ryanwaggoner 17y ago

Sorry, but this article is bullshit. Apple is rightly covering their ass by reminding people that if they're dumb enough to buy non-Apple-supported products because they sync with iTunes, they should be prepared for the very real eventuality that Apple's changes may break that capability in the future. In no way is it threatening Palm Pre owners, just letting them know that Apple won't be responsible when things go south for them. And aside from that, even if Apple is deliberately telling Palm Pre owners that they're going to break support in iTunes, so what? It's their product, they support whatever they want. The tone of this article seems to imply that Apple is doing something wrong here.

lurkinggrue 17y ago

Techcrunch seems to have this gleeful hate of the palm pre. No shock that they are not going to support it but I don't read that as they are going to block it.