ITunes 8.2 is out, accompanied by the usual cryptic release notes from Apple:
Version 8.2 now supports iPhone or iPod touch with the iPhone 3.0 Software Update and also includes many accessibility improvements and bug fixes.
Thanks, Apple. What it doesn’t say is “Version 8.2 breaks compatibility with competitor’s cellphones which pretend to be iPods.” Like, say, the Palm Pre.
We have absolutely no evidence that this update will stop the Pre “synchroniz[ing] seamlessly with iTunes”, but that isn’t the point. The fact is that it could break compatibility. This is fine in a free, third party hack, but Palm is a proper, grown up company which promises this syncing functionality as a feature of its new hardware. Let me ask you something: If you owned a Pre, how would you feel about iTunes updates? Would you hold off, just in case it broke things? Would you go ahead, but call up Palm when things go wrong?
Because Apple will try to switch off this hack, and eventually a bunch of unhappy customers are going to slap a class action lawsuit on Palm when an official, advertised feature just stops working. Nice work, Palm. Way to bring yourselves back from the brink.
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