It was hard not to the raise a dry smile when Palm casually included the option with its smartphone rebirth, the Pre, to synchronise with Apple's iTunes software.

Naturally Apple wasn't too enamoured with the whole affair, and went out of its way to put a stop to this unauthorised compatibility in the iTunes 8.2.1 update. Within a few days, Pam was ready with its own update which brought the illicit partnership back to life.

Despite early leaked images of iTunes 9 clearly showing a non-iPod device connected to the software, it seems Apple still isn't pleased with its rival providing consumers with a good reason to use its media platform, and has once again blocked accessed by the Pre.

So now it's Palm's turn to once again throw the toys back into the cot. Mumblings around the blogosphere suggest that an update is already in the works, so by the time the Pre lands in the UK we can expect iTunes 9 compatibility once again.