Palm Brings Back iTunes Syncing

Palm has made it pretty clear their counterstrike will not be misinterpreted.

Apple threw the first punch when they specifically called out the Palm Pre as one of the devices that would not work with the new iTunes update. And we thought that was the end. But now, only a mere week later, Palm is returning the blow in the form of the new Palm webOS 1.1 update.

On its official blog, Palm announced that they have a new version of the webOS. They start out with a lot of boring things about how the Pre will be more businesscentric. Then they talk about the fluff stuff where users will be able to include emoticons in messaging, person reminders (more on that later) and inactivity time out. Woohoo.

Then, buried at the end of the second paragraph, Palm says “Oh, and one more thing Palm webOS 1.1 re-enables Palm media sync. That’s right -- you once again can have seamless access to your music, photos and videos from the current version of iTunes (8.2.1).”

Yes they really said that. Yes they really specifically mentioned that version of iTunes … AFTER Apple specifically mentioned the Pre as one of the reasons for the iTunes update. Anyone else a feel a little tingle of excitement at the fight brewing on the horizon? How do you think Apple will respond? They can’t let an obvious rebuttal like this pass unnoticed.

Aside from the audacity of Palm, the one other cool thing we liked about the 1.1 version was the ability to set “person reminders” in your phone. It’s a pretty cool feature: set a reminder to ask your friend about their huge project coming up and the next time they call or text you, it’ll remind you to ask them about it.

We’re hoping that in version 1.2 that we’ll be able to even bypass our involvement in it and when we put in person reminders the Pre will just automatically send out messages asking all my friends about their lives, without me ever having to push a button. My phone will be a better friend than I am. Actually, even with just version 1.1 my phone will probably still be a better friend than I am.

For more on the latest tech news, check out the following blog posts. Also check back regularly to get updates on more of the software repartee between Palm and Apple and see how Apple responds.

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