Zune users have been able to sync their music and videos over Wi-Fi for years now — not so for patrons of the iPhone or iPod Touch, which can only sync up files via USB tethering. That said, an enterprising developer is looking to change the game when it comes to wireless iPhone and/or iPod Touch syncing … if Apple will let him, that is.
Engadget reports that developer Greg Hughes has just submitted the aptly named Wi-Fi Sync, which performs a “complete sync” of your iPhone or iPod Touch with iTunes — to the Apple App Store.
A YouTube video (embedded below) demonstrates the relatively simple process: Just install the Wi-Fi Sync plug-in for iTunes on your PC or Mac, then fire up the app on your iPhone or iPod Touch. A one-time authorization process follows, after which your iPhone — connected via Wi-Fi — should pop up in the iTunes interface, ready for syncing. That means your iPhone could sync up wirelessly with a computer in another room while, say, it’s charging up at night, just as Zune users have long been able to do. (It’s worth mentioning that Apple’s $99-a-year MobileMe service will wirelessly sync contacts, events, and bookmarks between your iPhone and PC/Mac, but not music or videos.)
Sounds cool, but here’s the catch: Apple still has to approve the Wi-Fi Sync app, and as TechCrunch points out, it might decide to spike the app because of its “unauthorized interaction with their software, iTunes.” Would Apple actually do such a thing? It just might, given its willy-nilly attitude toward approving App Store applications, and let’s not forget Apple’s lengthy (and ultimately successful) battle with Palm over the Pre’s (now-defunct) ability to sync seamlessly with iTunes.
Of course (and, again, as TechCrunch notes), there are at least a couple of other reasons that you might not want to sync the iPhone with your computer via Wi-Fi: security (it’s not clear what measures Wi-Fi Sync takes to protect your iPhone data while it’s traveling through the air) and speed (as any Zune owner will tell you, transferring several gigs of video and music over Wi-Fi can be agonizingly slow compared to USB, although syncing a few podcasts and contacts wirelessly shouldn’t take all that long).
Speaking for myself, though, I know I’d at least like the option to wirelessly sync my iPhone, and Wi-Fi Sync sounds like just the ticket … so long as Apple gives it a thumbs-up.
TechCrunch: Wireless iPod/iPhone/iPad Syncing Is Awesome — Too Bad It Will Likely Be Rejected
Engadget: Wi-Fi Sync: Wirelessly sync the iPhone with iTunes… in your dreams
— Ben Patterson is a technology writer for Yahoo! News.
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