Palm goes to USB Implementers Forum over Apple restrictions

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Palm issued a complaint with the USB Implementers Forum that states Apple is restricting its trade options.

According to Palm, Apple is restraining trade because it will not allow the Palm Pre to access iTunes. This is an anti-trust case it would seem as this means Apple is ignoring the standards that were supposed to make interoperability options via USB possible.

This is due to the fact that Apple is a member of the USB-IF which has three standards: the wireless USB, USB on the go, and the simple USB.
This is a very unexpected move for Palm to make and without a clear precedent or similar case industry experts are not sure what direction the move will take.

Analyst Mike Abrmasky of RBC Capital Markets commented that it’s new ground and will have a lot to do with how vocal users are about the situation.

The situation began when Apple released an update of iTunes that no longer allows non-Apple media players to synch iTunes and mentioned the Palm Pre in particular. This is a crushing blow to Palm which made a large amount of capital off of the Pre’s ability to act as a USB drive to synch with iTunes.

In other news on the iTunes front, many are waiting to see if Apple will approve the Spotify application since it would be competition for iTunes as well. Given the Palm situation, Apple may want to tread carefully in its decision.