Palm Pre blocked from syncing with iTunes

Okay, so it was a beautifully subtle and political jab to Apple's tin ribs when Palm geared up its new Pre handset to sync seamlessly with iTunes, and we can imagine how the iPhone manufacturer felt about the whole thing.

But punishing Palm via its customers seems especially sordid. IntoMobile is reporting that a new update to iTunes (version 8.2.1) has been issued by Apple that "addresses an issue with verification of Apple devices".

There are third party alternative to get the hardware and software talking again, by all accounts, but it's hard not to wince at such elitist corporate callowness.

Apple's unlikely to help Palm customers see the error of their ways and send them running to the iPhone shop after cheap tactics like this. But there you have it. If you're a Palm user and (for some odd reason) like iTunes, you might want to avoid the update.