WebOS 1.2.1 fixes Palm Pre iTunes syncing
(Credit:
Gizmodo)
When WebOS 1.2 didn't refix the syncing compatibility that iTunes 9 rebroke, it almost looked like this bizarre little Apple-Palm standoff had finally just, you know, puttered out. Well, nope, for some reason! Cue WebOS 1.2.1.
Palm's possibly heroic, mostly inconsequential iTunes-molesting theatrics aside, the fix most people were actually waiting for involved an error introduced this week by 1.2, which broke Exchange 2007 EAS syncing for quite a few people. That, along with a few bug fixes, is the main component of 1.2.1, which should be making its way to handsets over the weekend. In other news, paid apps are still totally MIA in the App Catalog. Weird.
Check here for the full 1.2.1 changelog.
This story originally appeared on Gizmodo.
It's the Palm Pre users who lose since the syncing functionality is intermittent.
Frankly, Palm can't play this cat-and-mouse game forever. Their financials are cr*ap and they are hemorrhaging cash. Apple on the other hand has more cash than Microsoft or Cisco (once you figure in debt) and is very profitable.
Palm will lose this war.
If they really want to service their customers, Palm needs to write their own syncing software. If Palm senior management does not want to do this, the Palm board of directors should replace them. What the current management is doing is destroying the brand and the company's credibility.
its about time they ****** make their own software and apple to sue palm
Did you really just say that? LOL, look in mirror, you'll see a moron in the reflection.
You mean the same way Microsoft already blocks Mac users from using a Zune?
both sides are right.
palm has the right to make the pre work.
apple has the right to block the pre.
the way things are now is the way they should be.
Palm is trying to cheat the system by masquerading as an iPod and registering to a non-public interface. Palm do NOT have the right to do this and if I were on the board of Palm I would fire the CEO. He's pushing an unstable interface that is not going to ever be supportable. Apple can keep disrupting it at will. The end result is that the Palm customers will get fed up and realize that iTunes is not a reliable application for the Pre. That, in my opinion, hurts the Pre a lot more than it hurts Apple. Apple can afford this battle, Palm cannot. If the CEO of Palm doesn't get that, he should be removed.
Palm customers are the perpetual losers in this Apple-Palm syncing battle. Palm needs to write their own software. If they are unwilling, the Palm board of directors should remove the CEO (as Cheese McBeese mentioned).
You don't get it. You can still use iTunes to manage your music and sync with a Blackberry, for example. The difference is that RIM wrote a proper syncing protocol. Apple organizes all the music in a known location, and they provide an .xml file that details the music, playlists, etc. All Palm needs to do is write a sync app that makes use of this information. At that point, you can still use iTunes for all your musical needs, and when you plug in your Pre, the PalmSyncMonitor will notice the Pre is plugged in, launch the sync utility, and sync your Pre with your iTunes library based on the criteria you give it.
Other than not being an item in the left side of the iTunes window and instead being in a different application, it will work the same way.
But Palm is too LAZY and CHEAP to write their own software. Instead they are basically breaking the law as well as their license for USB by impersonating a different product. This is a case of perpetual fraud by Palm. Not fraud directed at a consumer, but fraud directed toward a competitor. But it's still fraud.
The biggest problem with this game of cat-and-mouse is that it is damaging Palm's customers' experience. They could fix the whole thing buy writing their own software. You don't see RIM BlackBerry users wringing their hands, nor do you see any media coverage.
Palm will eventually fail unless they write their own software. They can't play this cat-and-mouse game forever. Their financials are for sh*t and they're hemorrhaging cash. The Palm board of directors should really fire their CEO for going down this route. Palm cannot win this game.
You state you are a web designer, so that would also naturally imply you understand that the IT business is less about company loyalty than it is an outlet for innovation, hence why Jon Rubeinstein moved to Palm to further his vision, not Apple's.
Actually, no. Palm does not have the right to make the Pre masquerade as an iPod in order to ride on Apple's coattails. The governing body of the USB protocol has said so. Apple has a supported third-party method of syncing with iTunes, and Palm should use it, or make their own software.
I can almost see where Palm is coming from here, but not really. When I started using Palm devices in the late 90s, it was not just because of the devices, but the whole package-- the device and Palm Desktop. Seems like Palm has abandoned the desktop portion of the equation. Even the handheld updates go directly to the device (even if it takes days). Of course, that's not acceptable for music organization, so they want a free ride on iTunes.
Apple gives iTunes to users for free. You can use it to support iPods or iPhones, or use it standalone, and they don't charge for it. However, they are under no obligation to support, or to allow a third party to support, iTunes functions for syncing devices Apple doesn't want to.
The only mileage Palm is getting out of this is from people who bought a Pre specifically because they didn't want to buy an iPhone, although they wanted the convenience of iTunes sync that it provides. Perhaps they don't like Apple as a company, or perhaps they don't like AT&T as an operator.
The real questions now are: did Palm re-enable sync by continuing the USB masquerade, or by another method?
How much further can Apple let the arms race go before updating iTunes to disable Pre syncing becomes counterproductive?
If Palm is continuing to fake USB vendor IDs, can anyone actually restrain them from doing so, short of a lawsuit?
To answer your question, yes they are still spoofing Apple's Vendor ID when in iTunes mode, they also set the device manufacteres name to Apple Inc. and they set the product ID to match the iPod Classic.
That story about Verizon and the Pre was debunked about 2 hrs after it was posted, You apple fanboys want the pre too fail so bad because in your heart you know the Pre does everything the I-Phone does and more, sorry but it's called progress. And the whole I-Tunes thing....I hate I tunes only because I managed my media on I turnes before I had a pre, and now that I do have a Pre, I would like to sync MY FRIGGIN media on a device of MY CHOICE!!! Bravo to Palm for helping people like me out, pretty soon Ill stop being lazy and transfer my stuff to another media managing software (of which there are plenty), it's ridiculous that I even have to do that considering how much money iv'e given to Itunes for music downloads, but thats apple for you! Keep it up Palm your the best smartphone on the market!!!
So you're encouraging a company to basically use either stolen vendor ID's or hacks to offer you a feature provided by another company?
[CNET editor's note: Personal attack deleted.]
And I'm sorry, but software like iTunes should allow syncing with any device. I'll never use it anyway because it doesn't support my Creative Zen (which I'll now never use because I have my Pre). Who knows? Maybe I'll try that crappy iTunes again?
Themrwhite, the Pre will have its market - it's not the same group as the iPhone, and the iPhone has been out longer, so they have more apps. Stop trying to compare Apples to Palms. Why be bitter? Enjoy your iPhone, and let us enjoy our Pre. Which, BTW, has a much better plan behind it, much less expensive, and will likely have more carriers in the long run than the iPhone. Apple's single outlet model has long been its Achilles Heel. This is why the PC (Windows based) is more prolific. Not necessarily better, but much more widely accepted.
Can you make a phone call and surf the web at the same time?
Actually, you can, if you're surfing via WiFi. CDMA networks currently don't allow simultaneous voice and data, so no Verizon or Sprint phone can surf the web via 1xRTT or EVDO while on a voice call.
But that's not the fault of Palm or the Pre. If the iPhone was on Verizon or Sprint, it wouldn't be able to do it either. So your example is meaningless, because it's not a limitation of the phone or its operating system (WebOS).
The Pre can multitask ANY of its programs. The iPhone is limited to only limited multitasking of a very small subset of its built-in applications. Can the iPhone stream audio from a program like Pandora while simultaneously browsing several websites, viewing and replying to several e-mails, looking up contacts, viewing photos, and tracking your position via GPS in both Google Maps and a built-in GPS application like TeleNav... all at once?
I think not.
The iPhone has its strengths: namely a large supply of 3rd-party applications. But the Pre also has many strengths and it didn't take three generations of the Pre to get where it is (unlike the iPhone). Palm will make improvements. Apple will make improvements, too.
In the end, the only thing that really matters is that we have a choice of devices. Which one you choose is up to you. This rabid fanboism is stupid. If you don't like a product, don't buy it. But don't spread mis-information about it when you don't know what you're talking about.
People who think smart phones should be just like computers (totally open system, yaddady yaddady . . .) do not understand communications systems. You cannot allow an application to fully control the phone, unless you are really, really, really certain it cannot mess up the communications system. This is not just a requirement of the cell system operators, it is a requirement of governments everywhere. In the U.S. phones are approved by the FCC. The phone manufacture has to test and certify that the phone will properly follow the protocols for the systems it works on (GSM, CDMA, etc.) and that it won't violate those protocols -- overpower other transceivers, stray off frequency, etc.
If the Palm Pre is "totally open" system, then it would violate cell phone requirements. So, either the Palm is not totally open, or it is a risk to the cell systems. I suspect the former.
The fake USB id method that Palm is using to sync with iTunes is a hack. A fine trick for a high-schooler. An embarrassment for a company that wants to be taken seriously. Write your own syncing software. The music files are on the computer in a straightforward organization. If others can write syncing software so can Palm.
I loved my Palm PDAs starting in 1997, but in 2007, I had a job with a Blackberry provided. Now I'd like to use my old Palm III or V as a PDA again, but cannot, because Palm has not updated its syncing software for the Macintosh in the last 5 years, and those older Palms won't work. On the Windows side, once we switched my wife to Vista, her Palm desktop software used with a Palm TX, kept erasing contacts. Again, I believe, because Palm has abandoned its PDA line. So be it. But it does make me less positive about the new Palm.
""the I-Phone debuted with NO Apps ' - Wrong. It came with Safari, the Calendar, other Apple Apps, and the full iPod system for videos, pictures, and music. Beyond that initially, Apple had developers doing web based apps. Currently programming for the iPhone is not a closed system. Getting Apps onto the iPhone is the restriction, for a good reason."
Safari, The Calender, and "other Apple apps" are not apps...Every freaking phone back to my brick Nokia 6-8 years ago had a freaking Calender and every phone in the past 4 years has a web broser BUILT IN not apps but built in functions... Grantted Safari on the Iphone is better then your average phone's browser but no they can't be considered Day 1 Apps. don't come standered day 1 of the iPhone and you would have had to wait for the App store the phone would have failed completely they were not added as an OPTIONAL (like every app in the App store is) program but included in launch because they were a nessecity. The App store did only come 1 year later and there is no denying that. If these features
So if you ask me the Pre is doing more in 3 months worth after launch the iPhone did in pretty much every way but sales. The iPhone is a HYPE phone and Im telling the honest truth every person who has come into my job with one has had way more complaints against the phone the good things to say... As for the Pre the only complaint I heard from my customer base was not being able to make a call straight out of the calender alert which I believe has been fixed.
Only redeeming piece of info I have about my customer opinion of iPhone/Pre is I have 2 times as many iPhone users in my store then Pre so there isn't as many people to complain possibley.
However, Palm needs to write their own syncing software (like RIM does for the BlackBerry).
Seriously, out of 70k apps for the iPhone, maybe a few hundred are actually useful.
NEXT!
example.. Windows fanboy.. "There are like a billion apps for Windows..." Mac fanboy... "yea, but the apps written for the Mac are much better quality"...
The irony is thick here.
And Yes stolen vendor ID, Palm used Apple's "unique" vendor ID in their (Palm's) device, which the USB-IF found out about and Palm's complaint to the USB-IF backfired on them. So yes, stolen.
Pre's app store is a joke, period.
The iPhone 3GS sold more phones in 3 days after its launch than the Pre has since it's debut and that was US only sales.
Fanboy, no just a wise consumer.
With flash enabled, there will probably be the VERY likely chance of an APP to turn flash on/off, so you can turn it on when you need it.
Palm Pre has physical keyboard + virtual keyboard. Iphone has virtual.
Palm Pre runs on full Linux?
Pre's app store isn't cluttered with crappy 99c apps. Palm has JUST let paid apps out in the open.
I know a lot of people love apps like Pandora... Sadly, Iphone can't use Pandora and do something else at the same time.
Pre already has themes up and running. They have many homebrew apps with a good community to back it up.
Iphone already had a good backing with the regular Iphone 3G; that could explain the big debut.
Apple always screws their early adopters. How many times have you bought an Apple product and there's a newer version of it less than a year later...
Remember, the iPhone was out for a long time before the 3GS...people flocked to it because it fixed some things that the first iteration SHOULD have already had. I'd like to see the numbers of NEW iPhone customers that came from the 3GS release, and not include those that were upgrading.
Chill out, Apple fanboy. That really is how you are coming across - to everyone who is reading you. Embrace multiple forms of technology, not just your favorite.
And just so you understand, I almost bought an iPhone. Two things kept me from it. 1. Pre's ability to run legacy Palm apps. 2 AT&T's plan pricing structure. Otherwise, I'd probably have had an iPhone. I just waited a while and found something that made more sense to me.
You are the type of user that has kept me from Apple products throughout the years. Try to come down off your high horse and start looking at the rest of the world of technology objectively. Accept the FACT that there isn't just ONE way. (Sheesh, MAC users...).
Remember when DRM restictions prevented music purchased through iTunes from playing on other devices? Consumers demanded choice and ability to play their music on whatever device they wanted and Apple faced a class action lawsuit for anti-competitive tying practices.
Apple works hard to ensure that consumers have only one choice for hardware if they want to run software designed for apple devices. Apple blocks emulators and interpreters like flash player, java runtime, and others from app store because apps using these technologies can run on any device. Apple wants to ensure the apple eco-system remains closed as long as they can get away with it. Apple is an overpriced hardware vendor, not a music store, so while choice of hardware is good for consumer and could drive down prices, it's not something Apple likes all that much.
- by ilovewindowsnot October 4, 2009 1:18 AM PDT
- Palm is lazy. This is why they'll go out of business soon. BlackBerry and Apple deserve there accomplishments in the Smart Phone market. They make great products. BB Just came out w/ there own Software. Palm should follow if it wants to succeed.
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