Apple wins right to block Palm Pre access to iTunes
APPLE Inc appears to have clearance from an industry group to block rival Palm Inc's Pre phone from connecting with the iTunes software.
The $US200 ($A229) Pre was launched in June as a direct competitor to the iPhone, and became the first non-Apple device that could directly connect to iTunes. It did that essentially by pretending to be an iPod.
Apple has crippled that function by updating its software. To get around it, a Pre that is connected to a computer's USB port will give the PC a hardware vendor code that Apple has been assigned by the USB Implementers Forum, a standards group.
