http://www.filehippo.com/download_itunes_32/

No, it isn't here yet, but I had a chance to play with one a few weeks ago. Thanks for the comments but you didn't quite get what I was trying to say.

Palm are not the perfect company, I am not trying to claim that, but they are the first company since Apple to have a chance of succesfully breaking the smartphone market in the way that Apple themselves did. As far as the iPhone keyboard, I have used it and don't like it. That doesn't mean that a software keyboard alternative would not be welcomed but I hope that the implementation is better than on the iPhone. I also hope that will prompt Apple to improve there implementation too. As far as ripping of someone elses property. Lets be serious here, the first touchscreen on a phone was in a Palm product. Apple just took the concept one step further. And as far as a checklist of features making a succesfull phone, well I agree totally. There are still too many things missing, even the cut & paste feature in the Pre is a little shoddy but Palm are making changes much quicker than Apple ever did when the iPhone was released. Ok, the remote wipe feature may not ring everyones bell, but the Pre is time and again being touted as an entertainment phone, and it isn't. Long term it is designed for business use, which makes things confusing as they are also pushing the ability to mix facebook, gmail and other contacts seemlessy. I think Palm do need to get there focus straight here too. The point however is that Palm are listening to there consumers and making the changes that they want, and if that makes the phone easier and better to use that can only be a good thing.

Yes Palm were lazy with media integration, iTunes was a catastrophe waiting to happen. They should have gone with one of the many companies out there who were willing to create software to help them do what they wanted. I don't want an iPhone and nothing against iTunes but I don't want that either, pushing that as a selling point was a big mistake, no question, but I think they will survive it.

I refer you however to what I said before, this is designed as a phone for business use, and they will be pushing that market in a big way, hence the details in the first webOS update. Which brings us around to focus again and what Palm really want this phone to be. I think people are going to be buying this product with certain expectations which will not be met, and that is a big shame. It is a great 1st attempt, and is still selling well, but anyone interested in it should make sure that it is exactly what they want, rather than buying it because the plans stateside for the Pre are cheaper than for the iPhone. Over here pricing is likely to be like for like, in fact for now over here the same provider has the iPhone and the Pre (to be released sometime before christmas). I will be buying a Pre because it is the right phone for me, not because it is necessarily better than all other phones in everyway. It does what I want it to do, and is being actively supported by a company who is willing to makes the changes the customer base want. How long did it actually take Apple to add cut and past to the iPhone for example. Thats where competition comes into it. If there was no competition then Apple could continues to sit around reaping the profits without improving the software. And as far as ease of use, I bow my head to Apple who have created a product which in that respect is considered by many a thing of beauty. But th Pre is also a pleasure to use and although maybe not as intuitive when first picked up has an interface which can rival the iPhone. If the updates keep coming then that can only get better too, but as I said before only time will tell.

There is plenty of room in the marketplace for more than one smartphone. Palm have with there continued sales proved that they have a product people want to buy, and that is what has given them the time they need to keep improving the concept. The Pre doesn't have to be perfect it has to reach a level which makes people willing to consider the alternatives which for too long they have not been doing. I think they have started to move in that direction.

Palm also have numerous patents which have been copied by the iPhone.
#7,268,775 which covers automatically adjusting display brightness using an ambient light sensor while leaving a user-selected brightness setting alone, just like the iPhone does it.
#7,007,239, "Method and apparatus for accessing a contacts database and telephone services"? Claim 10 is an almost exact description of the iPhone's phone app, buttons for dialing, call history, contacts, and speed dial that stay on-screen as you toggle between them.
#7,296,107, "System and method for detection of an accessory device connection status"? It covers leaving the display at full brightness instead of auto-dimming while connected to a power source during sync, just like the iPoine does.
#7,231,208, "User interface-technique for managing an active call": it describes in detail a conference call management system that's exactly like the iPhone's, you put one call on hold while you make another, and then you can independently manage each call from a single screen. Look familiar? As far as copying ideas and ripping off patents, the iPhone has infringed on numerous Palm patents with the iPhone. If Apple do try to sue Palm they may win, but Palm will counter sue and probably win also. Can you imagine Apple having to remove numerous features from there next phone. They wont take the risk.

Check out this article you may find it interesting:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/28/apple-vs-palm-the-in-depth-analysis/

But what of those people who also own an iPod and need to update iTunes to download a new firmware? Or those who updated the day iTunes 8.2.1 came out or just don't constantly read blogs about the Pre or iTunes and don't know iTunes is going to block their sync? What about the people who are updating iTunes now and are going to buy a Pre in the future?

Point is, yeah you can keep syncing with the older version of iTunes, but now Palm can't use that as part of their advertising scheme and the numbers of Pre users that can sync with iTunes are just going to drop from now on.

I am glad that you have chosen the Pre. I hope you are happy with it.

"Sure Apple are going to try to ruin the party". Please understand the reason behind this. Palm used knowledge of the workings of the iTunes and the iPod to spoof iTunes into thinking the Pre was an iPod. But worse than that – they promoted this HACK as a feature in their launch of the Pre and in their advertising. It is one thing to make it synch using other people's technology – quite another to wave a flag from the rooftops promoting the fact.

"Apple fanboys seem to forget that Jon Rubenstein who was behind the building of the original iPod" As i have posted on numerous occasions the Pre is what the iPhone would have been without Steve Jobs input. In fact the list of specs appear to be a check list of things missing from the original iPhone in all the reviews. And thereby we have the first mistake. A checklist of features does not a feature phone make ask anyone with a WinMo phone. The point with the iPhone is that it is not a list of features but an ease of use thing.

"Only time will tell how successful the Pre will prove to be, but Palm have plenty of time." That is where you are wrong. Palm were thrown a lifeline by Elevation Partners. The Pre HAS to be right. There will be no third chance.

The rest of your post appears to be promoting some kind of business features for remote wipe, again a list of features, not a reason for buying one.

The keyboard in the iPhone is NOT an issue – I found it ironic that in the Pre reviews a lot of people mentioned that although, yes, it has a physical keyboard, it's size makes it difficult to use and the fact it had no virtual keyboard made it doubly frustrating. But that's OK – Palm can easily rip off the iPhone keyboard and all will be right.

"The once powerful Apple have some serious competition in this arena," When were they once powerful? Maybe around the time of the Apple II and the release of the Mac 128 but that is a while ago.

"Remember these words, ‘Competition and ‘Choice’. Palm may not be the downfall of the iPhone but they can only bring good news to all of us as consumers." Look I am all for competition but competition does not mean ripping off other peoples ideas. Look at the iTunes debacle – WHY did Palm take the lazy way out and decide to spoof their product to pretend to be the competition? There is ONLY one reason they decided to do that. And that reason would be to try and garner public reaction and getting the iTunes "monopoly" looked at. How does this improve things? If people want something better than iTunes why don't people do it – god knows Microsoft have been trying for years to do it and even with their resources have failed miserably at every attempt. The fact is that Palm was lazy with media integration and they have paid the price. There were plenty of other ways to do this but Palm decided to hack their way out rather than do actual work. Lazy, lazy, lazy.

Couple of other points Simon. Try looking up the word "their" and try using it when referring to companies rather than "there". And how is the Pre doing in the UK – didn't realize it was actually out over there yet.

Perhaps you missed it. Roger MacNamee, part of Elevation Partners, the people who put the money into Palm to release the Pre said the following:

“You know the beautiful thing: June 29, 2009, is the two- year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone,” McNamee said today in an interview in San Francisco. “Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later.”

In three weeks the Palm shipped 150,000 units of the Pre. The weekend that the iPhone 3Gs shipped they shifted about 1.5 million units. He was utterly wrong.

Why do they yearn Apple lawyers to tear the "gnat" apart or philosophize to downplay a smaller competitor?

It really puzzles me, I am not an "Apple hater", there are very few of those, they are an invention of the people who turned Apple into a cult-like following – every religion must have bogies, you know.