The week couldn’t have started better for Apple. The company is on the verge of bringing the iPhone to more homes around the world. It is already moving forward rapidly in the smart-phone market. And one of iPhone’s top rivals could be falling on its face. For those of you who have been waiting for Verizon to finally offer Palm Pre, it seems you will have to stick with Sprint for the time being. Verizon seems to have changed its plans about the Pre. It could be due to the fact that the device has not been able to sustain any momentum in a market that is dominated by devices such as iPhone. Palm Pre may be cheaper than ever these days, but it may still not be enough for the phone to survive.

While Apple’s competitors fail to sustain their momentum in the fast moving smart-phone market, Apple keeps moving along and making progress. According to sources, Apple is on the verge of striking deals with Orange and Unicom to expand its business in the UK and China respectively. Unicom is the second largest carrier in China, but it does give Apple the chance to get the iPhone in the hands of a whole lot of people.

The deal with Orange is even more significant as it could indicate the change of strategy on Apple’s part. Apple has been working with O2 in the UK, but by breaking the monopoly and partnering up with Orange, Apple may be sending the signal that it may pull off the same tactic in the U.S. So far AT&T has enjoyed exclusive rights to the iPhone, and many analysts are skeptic about the possibility of a break up between the duo. Considering that the market conditions are very much different in the Europe, we can’t read too much into this whole deal. But it’s not out of the realm of possibility to see Apple strike a deal with T-Mobile or Verizon in the U.S.

Let’s not forget that Apple is already working on recession-friendly Macbooks, a super tablet, and iPod Touch video, and a whole new design for the iPhone. Some of these new devices could open the door to an Apple partnership with other carriers. But it pays to be an Apple investor these days.

Your take: will Palm Pre survive its current troubles? Which carrier will/should Apple partner up with?

Apple had promised us that it was not knowingly preventing Palm Pre and other competing devices from syncing with iTunes. At the same time, the company had fired a warning shot to any other company that claimed to be compatible with iTunes. Apple has kept up its promise with the latest iTunes update (8.2.1). If Apple was going easy on Palm Pre, that’s all going to change. Apple simply doesn’t support iTunes support for the device. Here is what an Apple spokesman had to say:

iTunes 8.2.1 is a free software update that provides a number of important bug fixes. It also disables devices falsely pretending to be iPods, including the Palm Pre.

The move is not really surprising. Palm is a competitor to Apple, and their latest ad campaign that attacks iPhone has not made Apple too happy. Palm Pre fans have been counting on iTunes to manage their device, but that is not a possibility with iTunes 8.2.1. If you are a Pre owner, you can always avoid upgrading your iTunes or use a third party hack to get the job done. But be aware that Apple is going to give the Pre a tough time in the future. So think twice before switching to Palm Pre from iPhone.

This is a very risky move by Apple. You simply get in trouble when you own a monopoly and make it look like you own a monopoly at the same time. iTunes doesn’t really have a decent set of competitors, which means it could provide Apple an unfair advantage over other devices (especially if Apple goes out of its way to disable their iTunes sync function). Palm essentially poked the bear by claiming the Pre to be better and cheaper than the iPhone, so it had coming.

Your take: should Apple be allowed to disable iTunes sync function when it comes to iPhone competitors?

Palm Pre is dubbed as the true worthy alternative to iPhone by many experts. Palm has gone the extra mile to make sure that the phone is competitive against Apple’s phone. It has even indicated that Palm Pre is capable of being synchronized with iTunes. But that seems to be one step too far for Apple to handle. The company has moved swiftly to crush rumors and partially true claims by releasing the following statement:

Apple designs the hardware and software to provide seamless integration of the iPhone and iPod with iTunes, the iTunes Store, and tens of thousands of apps on the App Store. 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.

There is no real problem with the statement above if you take it at the face value. Apple is simply suggesting that people should not expect any iTunes support from Apple for their non-Apple phones. But you can also assume from the above statement that Apple may go out of its way to make other phones less compatible with iTunes, effectively taking a significant edge over Palm in the Palm Pre vs. iPhone war. This is a move that you would expect from Microsoft and not Apple. But there are no saints out there. Palm Pre is a decent competitor to iPhone, but I doubt Apple is scared of it. Nevertheless, when it comes to iTunes, Apple holds all the cards. So if you are buying Palm Pre and expect full compatibility with iTunes, don’t be surprised if Apple pulls the rug from under you. It may be unfair but it’s all business.

Palm Pre has been dubbed the next iPhone killer since anyone can remember. There is a whole lot of hype around the device and some of it is justifiable too. Palm Pre is certainly a capable device and can hold up its own against any phone. And it is more affordable than iPhone. One of the oldest tricks in the book is by giving the consumer the impression that they are getting practically a comparable set of features with your gadget for less money than your competitors are asking. Palm and Sprint are doing just that with Palm Pre.

Palm Pre’s pricing model is very similar to iPhone. For an unlocked device, you are going to have to pay out $550 whereas the subsidized version will cost you $199. The Sprint’s wireless plans do seem to be a whole lot cheaper than that of at&t which gives Palm Pre a price advantage over iPhone. On an unlimited wireless plan, the consumers are going to save close to $50 a month, which adds up to a significant amount over 2 years. But is this a decisive edge for Palm Pre?

I am still not convinced that Palm Pre is actually a better device than iPhone. And we are still waiting for Apple’s next plan. In essence, Palm Pre is going to compete with a device that is going to get a major upgrade in the next few months. Can Pre effectively compete with iPhone 3.0? I am not sure. But before that happens, lets see how Palm Pre holds up in real world in the hands of real consumers.

Your take: what excites you the most about Palm Pre?

Well, Apple doesn’t like it at all, and I am with them. Copycats are in every industry, but what Apple can not do is allow these guys to get away with murder. In a statement that should serve notice to copycat makers, Apple’s COO announced that they would not “tolerate” someone ripping their intellectual property off.

Apple simply doesn’t have an option here. There will be copycats, and there may be lawsuits. I personally don’t read much into Palm copying the iPhone, but things could have been nasty if Apple was doing poorly. Nevertheless, I hope Apple keeps focusing more on innovating and less on threatening.

[via CNET]