Palm Pre Will Sync With Apple’s iTunes, Twitter Search Built-In (PALM, AAPL)

Dan Frommer of Silicon Alley Insider
Palm’s rivalry with Apple just got a little stickier, as the smartphone maker takes a bold step.

Palm (PALM) has figured out a way for the forthcoming Pre smartphone — launching June 6 for $199 after rebate at Sprint Nextel — to sync with Apple’s (AAPL) iTunes software.

“Simply connect Pre to your PC or Mac via the USB cable, select ‘media sync’ on the phone, and iTunes will launch on your computer desktop. You can then choose which DRM-free media files to transfer,” the company says today in a press release.

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This won’t make the folks at Apple happy. It’s probably not illegal, but given the bad blood between the companies, we assume Apple will block the Pre with the next update to iTunes, which could come this summer when the new iPhone OS is released. (After all, syncing to your iTunes library is a selling point for the iPhone — and one of the reasons other devices haven’t been as successful.) We’ve asked Apple for comment and will update if we hear back.

Meanwhile, Palm has also built Twitter into the Pre’s “universal search” function. This means when you search for something on the phone, it’ll also check recent conversations on Twitter. That will probably be useful, as Twitter is a good place to find news and short reviews.

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