Subject: Here’s how to get Notes on Treo and Blackberry
As far as I know, there is no single solution that does wireless synch of calendar or address books for both Blackberry and other handheld platforms.
RIM’s Blackberry is somewhat proprietary. RIM already has a very mature middleware solution of their own, BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES). RIM announced over a year ago that BES will be capable of working with Treos and other non-RIM devices (BlackBerry Connect), however Treo support keeps getting pushed off apparently, and some doubt it will ever happen because RIM and Palm are such competitors. It does currently work with some Nokia models, and Motorola, Audiovox, and Sony Ericsson have announced plans to run the BlackBerry client.
MartinScott WirelessMail ($59/user) is the only 3rd party product that delivers wireless Notes email to BlackBerries. It also works for Palm/Treo, Sidekick (Danger Hiptop), PocketPC / Windows Mobile, Symbian, and any other device that can receive an email. You can use the non-wireless calendar and address book synch that comes with the BlackBerry handheld. For Treo, you can use IBM EasySync. If you are the only person managing your own calendar and address book, non-wireless PIM synch works fine for most people. You always have the most recent version of this data with you.
Although WirelessMail does not have wireless calendar synch, it does give you the ability to wirelessly send yourself an email with subject line commands to poll your calendar, full text search your mail, and other actions. E.g., the command “wm.cal” will return an email with a listing of your appointments for the week. Querying your live calendar for appointments is useful, but it’s not the same as synching them with your handheld calendar.
If others are scheduling meetings for you while you’re mobile, and you want such meetings to show up on your calendar immediately, then yes you’ll probably want wireless calendar synch. Since a single product does not exist for both BlackBerries and Treos, let alone the other handheld platforms, you’ll need a combination of TWO solutions to cover BlackBerry and Treo:
for BlackBerries: RIM BlackBerry Enterprise Server ($4000 for first 20 users, plus additional box and Domino Server license, ~$80/user thereafter)
for Palm/Treo and PocketPC’s: CommonTime mNotes ($75/user)
Both of these also give you a capable platform for accessing Notes applications on the devices. However separate development efforts are required on each solution.
There are some other solutions that compete with CommonTime, with varying degrees of ease, device compatibility, robustness, and pricing models. They include iAnywhere Pylon, JPMobile SureWave, and Extended Systems OneBridge. Also, there are some rentable solutions offered by wireless carriers for Treos, but they usually require you to leave your computer on and your data is often stored at the carrier (a violation of some IT department policies).
CommonTime and MartinScott offer free evaluation copies for immediate download, and you can be up and running with either in a few minutes. BES is a substantial installation effort, and there is no evaluation policy other than returning it within 30 days. I’m not sure about the others.
Disclaimer: I work for MartinScott, but I think this is pretty accurate. We have referred plenty of customers to RIM, CommonTime, and other solutions when ours is not the best for their needs. Corrections and followups welcome.