USB Group rules against Palm

The USB Implementers Forum—which controls how the USB architecture is used—has ruled against Palm’s camouflaging of their Pre smartphone as an iPod. The Pre identified itself as a mass storage device manufactured by Apple in order to allow their phone to be recognized and sync music with iTunes. Palm made much of the feature when the Pre was first released, and after a back-and-forth with Apple (who wanted iTunes to be accessible only by their own hardware), Palm complained to the USB-IF, stating that it was Apple who were abusing the USB standard by locking other manufacturers out.