Since our announcement in May, the Google Apps team has worked hard to prepare this feature for public release, testing it extensively with select companies and universities, including Sanmina-SCI. "With Apps Connector, our BlackBerry mobile users get to use native applications that they are already familiar with and we get to manage them using familiar tools. It's great to combine the benefits of Google Apps like 25GB storage per user and ubiquitous accessibility with the push mail capabilities of BlackBerry," said Manesh Patel, CIO of Sanmina-SCI.
Features include:
- Messages sent to your Gmail inbox are pushed to your BlackBerry within 60 seconds.
- Emails read/deleted on your BlackBerry are marked as read/deleted in Gmail, and vice-versa.
- Emails archived/starred on your BlackBerry are archived/starred in Gmail, and vice-versa.
- BlackBerry folders are synchronized with labels in Gmail.
- You can search for contact information of coworkers from the global address list on your BlackBerry.
- Contacts in Gmail are automatically synchronized with your BlackBerry address book.
- You can view your Google Calendar schedule with the native BlackBerry application, with one-way synchronization from Google Calendar to your BlackBerry device. Two-way calendar sync with the ability to accept, decline and schedule meetings from your BlackBerry device is not available with this release but we are working on it.
- Administrators can use the management and security tools that are part of BlackBerry Enterprise Server.
Google Apps Premier and Education Edition customers worldwide can get started with this feature at no charge by downloading Google Apps Connector for BlackBerry Enterprise Server. If you have any questions, please visit the Help Page. Both of these links are also available through the Google Apps control panel.
Learn about all of the mobile options available to Google Apps users at www.google.com/apps/mobile.
Find customer stories and product information on our resource sites for current users of Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes/Domino.
17 comments:
What about BlackBerry Instant Messaging bridge to GTalk?
I think that the ability to accept/decline/schedule meetings from the blackberry device would be a great improvement. Although, it sure does beat using the google mail app along with google sync for blackberry users.
isn't this what imap does?
So when is this going to be available for us common folk who don't have access to a BES server, but want the same 2way capability with our Google Apps accounts?
Working on the same for Nokia's Symbian, still the largest smartphone base?...
Hope so...
The same wish goes for Lotus Notes Sync with Gmail/Google Calendar...
Is there an estimated release date for the two-way calendar sync? I know I will not be advising any clients to switch from MS Exchange to Google Apps until that happens.
I find the omission of 2 way calendar sync makes this useless for real-world enterprise use. Especially since the users are used to having 2 way calendar sync with BES and Exchange now...getting everyone on-board with a migration to Google Apps would be hard enough, but then telling people they're going to lose functionality (2 way calendar sync, notes sync, tasks sync) would kill it for most people. I know google is working on the next version that will include 2 way calendar sync, but i wish google would have just finished it, then released it. On the upside, Google apps is great :)
One question I had regarding the BES connector, do you need to have an Exchange installation still? The BES and BPS software is based around an email platform (Exchange/Lotus, etc.), so I'm wondering how it's possible to just have a BES install and Google Apps and that's it.
Thanks!
Not having bi-directional sync of calendar entries pretty much makes this a non-starter. It's not a non-trivial feature, it's what makes this usable to users. Until then there's no point in even trying this out.
I love this functionality by without bi-directional sync IMO, you should have waited to launch.
This is a great first step, but I can not imagine anyone with road warriors using blackberries in the field and scheduling appointments thinking only one way sync is acceptable.
I know Google is working on it, but I will not be converting my company to Google Docs until 2 way sync works for gmail, contacts and calendar. Tasks and notes/memos would be nice too, but the first 3 are musts.
Hi there,
I have a business that we are considering bringing over to Google Enterprise Email. I keep hearing grea things about it, so thought i would do some research.
My main question is what happens if we do not have an enterprise version of blackberry, but rather each person has his own blackberry (because the majority of our people are independent contractors). Will the syncronization still work, and if so, how, and how well...
I thought Google licensed ActiveSync. We were going to switch to Google Apps for Business once you offer full ActiveSync support, so that we can support both BlackBerry and iPhone push, as well as the use of Mail on Snow Leopard for our Mac users (built in support for ActiveSync/Exchange 2007). Can someone tell us if this is still likely to happen at some point?
Anyone know if this connector is compatible with BlackBerry Professional Software ?
Yeah, the two-way calendar is a problem. You can use the google mobile app, launch the calendar app and add something to your google calendar from the app on the BB. This is not a native approach and is a cludgy workaround, but useable until two-way calendar is finished up.
Not much in the way of replies from the Google folks is there.
There is two way sync for all you people who say there is not
Kenneth - There is 2 way sync with the Google Sync, but not with the BES and Google Connector. The Google Connector only does one-way calendar sync. They will be coming out with a newer version which will have this feature.
Anyone hear when its coming out?
Also need the ability to 2-way sync multiple google calendars to a single outlook calendar.
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