BlackBerry in Sync with Apple

Jay Wrolstad, wireless.newsfactor.com

Information Appliance Associates is offering an application that links the BlackBerry mobile e-mail platform with Mac OS X, further extending BlackBerry’s considerable reach.

With the PocketMac BlackBerry Edition, users can sync their BlackBerry handheld with a Mac PC, enabling the interchange of contact and calendar information, as well as notes.

The PIM Connection

The software, priced at US$29.95, can be configured to support Microsoft’s Entourage personal information applications, Apple’s iCal calendar and tasks applications, and Now Contact/Now Up-To-Date PIM programs.

PocketMac BlackBerry Edition is integrated with iSync on the Mac PC running OS 10.3 or higher, so that either iSync or PocketMac software can be used to make the handheld-to-computer connection.

Support is provided for the BlackBerry 5810, 6210, 6230, 6280, 6510, 6710, 6750, 7210, 7230, 7280, 7510, 7730, 7750 and 7780 devices and the RIM 957 product.

Enterprise Embraces BlackBerry

The BlackBerry platform has developed a broad following in the enterprise, delivering wireless access to e-mail and corporate data, as well as Internet applications.

Research in Motion (RIM), the maker of the BlackBerry handhelds, recently projected that the number of its subscribers will double to 2 million by the end of the year. Subscriber growth at the Waterloo, Ontario-based company has marched steadily upward — as it has with other wireless providers.

The BlackBerry is considered one of the principal devices that have helped handhelds gain the trust of enterprise users. BlackBerry shipments increased 289 percent during the second quarter of 2004, driven largely by the devices’ e-mail capabilities, as well as a growing number of third-party applications and wireless data services that are becoming available to BlackBerry users, according to analysts at Gartner.

“This is another example of the RIM platform being made available to a broader audience,” Yankee Group analyst John Jackson told NewsFactor. “The strategy is to have a presence across a range of domains and application types.”

Jackson noted that Apple has a small, but well-entrenched and avid customer base that RIM wants to bring into the BlackBerry fold.

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