Palm Pre backs away from Apple iTunes

The long-running feud over the Palm Pre's ability to sync with Apple's iTunes may have come to an end. Or not.

On Monday, Palm announced its latest update to the Pre's webOS operating system. Conspicuously absent from the announcement was any mention of what the company calls "media sync" - the ability for Palm's smartphone to mimic an iPod when connected to iTunes.

On Tuesday, a Palm spokeswoman confirmed to The Reg that "webOS 1.2 did not reestablish media sync with iTunes."

Palm and Apple have been playing hide the salami with iTunes syncing since the Pre shipped in June. First syncing was in, then it was out. Then in. Then out.

Palm tried to get the USB Implementers Forum, guardian of all things Universal Serial Bus, to rule that Apple was unfairly locking the Pre out of iTunes, but that effort came to naught last week when the USB-IF took Apple's side in the syncing spat.

And now with the introduction of a webOS update that leaves iTunes syncing unsynced, Palm appears to have thrown in the towel.

But Palm won't admit that its media sync days are over. As the company spokeswoman told us, "We never comment on what might or might not be on our product roadmap." ®