Yesterday Apple issued a warning to iTunes customers that seemed to directly address Palm Pre owners who were syncing their new phones with iTunes:

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.

Basically Apple is saying you could ruin your phone by trying to sync and it isn’t their fault. And furthermore, you probably won’t be able to in the future so quit while you’re ahead instead of wasting your time.

Oh well… there is nothing Palm can do about it, right? Don’t tell that to Palm spokesperson Lynn Fox who responded to Apple’s “threat” through an interview with John Paczkowski of the Wall Street Journal:

Palm’s media sync works with the current version of iTunes. If Apple chooses to disable media sync in a future version of iTunes, it will be a direct blow to their users who will be deprived of a seamless synchronization experience. However, people will have options. They can stay with the iTunes version that works to sync their music on their Pre, they can transfer the music via USB, and there are other third-party applications we could consider.

It looks like Apple has some tricky decisions to make. If they block the Palm Pre they will also be blocking original iPod devices since this is how the Palm Pre identifies itself to iTunes. And perhaps worse, Apple will be denying its iTunes customers a synch experience they already have which could just lead to defection and irritation.

This isn’t a stalemate… because at some point Apple is going to make a move (or a statement).