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Apple's success in integrating devices and services - with iTunes on the iPod and then iPhone - is a clear template for other vendors, and Palm is joining Nokia and Sony Ericsson in pursuing it aggressively. Just ahead of the US shipment of the Pre on June 6, the firm has unveiled new features to make its smartphone shine, including a media manager that can download music directly from iTunes. This comes just as Sony Ericsson puts weight behind its intention to defocus on its key advantage in mobile music - its Walkman brand.

Speaking at The Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital conference this week, Palm executives showed off the app store for the Pre, as well as the new media manager.

Meanwhile, Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam was saying it would get its hands on the Pre, and a "cousin device", in the "next six months or so". But Sprint Nextel said its exclusive runs "at least" until the end of the year. The Sprint deal was always said to be until year-end, but the later-than-expected date of shipping the Pre may have eaten into its window of advantage and could enable it to lobby for an extension - especially if its launch is also constrained by rumored component shortages (though Palm said at the event that it was in "full production" and any shortages would be because of huge demand).

Palm executive chairman, and former iPod creator Jon Rubinstein showed off the Palm Pre, demonstrating how it can search Amazon's MP3 store and download songs directly to the device. Apple recently did away with digital rights management on iTunes and Nokia is expected to do the same in order to push Comes With Music in the US. Palm has changed direction on music - at the Pre launch it was talking about the Pre being a storage device, sideloading from the PC rather than downloading directly.

Rubinstein also described a 'media sync' feature which can get non-protected files directly from iTunes without special software; and an enhanced search capability, which can search a wide range of content types, including Twitter. And he confirmed there would be a GSM version by year end, which is widely expected to go to Telefonica O2 for the launch exclusive.

The Pre's App Catalog will not boast the scale or impact (or hopefully the early technical hitches) of Nokia's Ovi Store, as it will be only in beta release on June 6, with about a dozen programs. Among those that are on show are The New York Times, indicating how the big newspaper brands are becoming key in the battle over content devices, after the launch of the Amazon Kindle DX, and with rumors of a large screen iPhone tablet geared to reading. Rubinstein said the goal was to work closely with a few developers to get the software right, and that there were now "hundreds" working with Palm and "thousands" in the queue.

Palm's largest shareholder, venture capitalist, Roger McNamee, was talking up the company in his usual over-the-top style. "I find it hard to believe they are going to get bent out of shape," he said, as quoted in the WSJ. "We are at the very beginning of a massive transformation. There was a lot of white space that Palm could step into." He went on: "I wish I had the entire fund in Palm. This is the thing that will define us."

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