Palm webOS Restores iTunes

Palm tonight countered Apple's move to break iTunes syncing by releasing webOS 1.1. The previously promised update restores full syncing with iTunes 8.2.1 and lets both the Pre and future webOS phones once more transfer music, photos and videos directly from the jukebox software. It's not clear what was changed to restore access, though Apple explicitly mentioned that its iTunes patch checked the authenticity of devices, hinting that Palm has found a way to bypass or fool the check.

Many of Palm's current engineers previously worked at Apple on the iPhone or iPod and as a result have experience with Apple's hardware identification scheme. It's commonly thought that they've used this knowledge to replicate an iPod's behavior in this system and show up as though it were a native device.

Besides the fix, 1.1 also brings important fixes to Microsoft Exchange support, such as support for company-initiated remote wipes, forcing a PIN or password to unlock a phone and timeouts that re-lock the phone after a set period. The instant messaging app also now has emoticons, and contacts now have "person reminders" that can bring up a note when that contact next gets in touch.

The release is available over-the-air today and only requires the user to manually check for updates.

By Electronista Staff

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iPod, industry, software, Microsoft, iTunes, Palm, Exchange, mobile phones, Apple, webOS