Future iTunes versions could block the Pre, but why?

I would be pissed for other peoples sake if Apple would do something so greedy as to block the palm pre from syncing.

Why would Apple want to stop the pre from accessing iTunes?

Easy. Because Apple makes the lions share of it's revenue selling hardware (in this case, the iPhone).

Apple makes just a fraction of the sale price that you pay for music on iTunes. The majority goes to the record companies. The real profit, for Apple, is in selling iPhones and iPods.

As always, Apple is a hardware company that just happens to make software.

Apple will limit Pre interoperability to levels similar to other non-iPod devices. That is so obvious. One of the biggest selling points of the iPod is the easy device management through iTunes. And people expect Apple to just give this advantage away to a competitor? Maybe Apple should start selling Dells in the Apple Store as well, eh?

Of course iTunes pricing is designed to increase profits from selling iPods not from media. Proof? The record companies' near-apopleptic complaints about it.

Antitrust grounds if Apple limits Pre interoperability with iTunes? Zero. Apple will not prevent Pre owners loading non-DRM iTunes music. What they will block are all the other iTunes goodies that make up the iPod/iPhone's competitive advantage. No court will allow companies to blatantly free ride on their competitors' (costly) investments. That would be the end of innovation and the free enterprise system. Then again there might be a court that will grant Dell's wish that Apple Stores sell Dells.

Surely Apple wants to sell iPods and iPhones instead of Palm products. Block the Pre and then they're stuck with drag and drop support. Ahahahha.

As owner of the iPhone 3G I don't bother much with iTunes compatibility with 3rd Party devices. Still from pre-iPhone days I know how much pain it can be getting a third party device (especially phones) to sync with the mac address book or ical. Then it's necessary to buy third party applications which usually don't run the way I wanted them to.

It's just the best way. Plug in and your music, podcasts, apps, videos, contacts and calender events are right on your phone. That's how it's supposed to be!

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Apple makes 6 cents per song, if even that. They're a hardware company, not a music company- the Itunes music store helps them sell ipods, nothing more. I could see them cutting off the Pre if it started to cut into Ipod or Iphone sales.

If the Pre can truly sync with iTunes then maybe Apple should let users use iTunes for a year or maybe at a specific number of users, then Apple could cut off access to iTunes. This could make people want to get a Apple product, ipod or iphone, so that they can continue to use their iTunes music catalog.

Will the Pre sync with iTunes music and playlists?
Or just let you drag and drop mp3 files into the Pre?

The later is not "syncing with itunes" its just a file transfer.

Apple might let it go for legal and PR reasons. Just because the accounting works out better if they block the Pre doesn't mean it's a good idea for the company. I don't know the answer to this (and neither do you).

I would like to have my Palm Desktop back, I mean be able to use it to keep my contacts instead of outlook for my iphone. Outlook s*cks big time...