Apple Issues Warning About Third Party Devices Syncing With iTunes [UPDATED]

You knew that Apple wasn’t going to sit idly by and allow third party devices to sync to iTunes. But what I didn’t expect was a warning about it that is posted in their knowledge base:

Apple is aware that some third-parties claim that their digital media players are able to sync with Apple software. However, Apple does not provide support for, or test for compatibility with, non-Apple digital media players and, because software changes over time, newer versions of Apple’s iTunes software may no longer provide syncing functionality with non-Apple digital media players.

I guess that translates to “It works for now. But if it doesn’t work in the future because we do something, don’t come crying to us.” That’s pretty soft by Apple standards. I really thought that they would have sent the iLawyers after companies that have made their devices sync with iTunes. I’m thinking specifically of Palm and the new Pre here, but the BlackBerry does the same thing via BlackBerry Desktop Manager on Windows. Perhaps Apple isn’t looking for a fight… At least not yet.

UPDATE: Palm has responded to Apple via All Things Digital. Let the mud slinging begin.

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