Palm Pre: Apple in disguise?

The Palm Pre is made by Apple. At least,that’s what it’s telling iTunes. Earlier this week, Apple issued an update that blocked the Pre from showing up in iTunes. Palm countered by updating the Pre to regain that access—by changing their USB vendor ID to “Apple.” Pre Central confirms:

The Pre is now telling your computer that the vendor who made it is Apple. The change here is that with previous versions of webOS, the Vendor ID was “0×0830 (Palm Inc.).” So while previously the Pre identified itself as a “mass storage device” called an iPod, now it’s identifying itself as a “mass storage device manufactured by Apple” called an iPod.

Now, this is a violation of the USB licensing agreement: you agree not to make unauthorized use of other ID numbers. But Palm has filed a complaint against Apple, believing (perhaps) that Apple is making unauthorized use of their USB ID: by blocking them.

Interesting move: does Apple have the right to stop other companies from accessing iTunes? True, it’s your music and video, but Apple gives iTunes away in the hopes that people will by iPods and iPhones. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out with the USB group, but I think we should plan on seeing another iTunes point update in the immediate future.