Ask the MACist

Sadly, for a long time Mac users felt like they had taken a backseat to their Windows-using friends -- at least where compatibility to their Blackberry was concerned. Fortunately, there was a bunch of smart guys and gals at a company called Pocketmac who saw the problem and decided to do something about it. To help their fellow Mac users sync contact and calendar data between their Macs and their Blackberries, they invented a program called Pocketmac for Blackberry.

This program allows you to sync your iCal and Now Up To Date Calendars, Address Book, Entourage Contacts and Appointments, and even Sticky Notes between your Mac and your Blackberry. And yes, it even works with the Blackberry Pearl. In fact, the makers of the Blackberry liked the software so much they decided to license it from Pocketmac, and now provide it for free to all Mac-using Blackberry owners.

So, head on over to RIM's website (the makers of the Blackberry) and download Pocketmac for Blackberry, install it and sync away. The instructions are pretty straightforward when you install the software. After installing it but before running it, connect your Blackberry to your Mac with the USB sync cable. That way, Pocketmac will recognize your Blackberry when it opens.

Then, there are various tabs where you can select which programs you want to sync with your Blackberry. For me, it was Apple’s iCal and Address Book and nothing else. I don’t sync Stickies, Now Contact, Entourage or anything else. I also don’t have my email redirected out to my Blackberry. However, that is an option that some people choose to take advantage of. Basically what it does is give you almost true “push” email functionality even from your email accounts that are not “push” – such as most POP and IMAP accounts.

Your email comes into your Email client and then Pocketmac takes that mail and sends it directly out to your Blackberry using its unique PIN number. That way, email gets to you almost instantly instead of it taking minutes or in some cases hours to reach you. Its an interesting feature but in my testing I haven’t found it works as well as the Windows version that integrates with Microsoft Outlook and comes standard with the Blackberry. Plus, you need to have your computer on and checking email all the time for this feature to work.

Really, I’ve had the best luck simply configuring any other email accounts I want to have sent to my Blackberry directly from the provider of my Blackberry service – which in my case is T-Mobile. Email pretty much comes to my Blackberry just as fast as if I was using the redirector and I don’t have to worry about having my computer on all the time and having my email program open all the time.

So, for you Mac and Blackberry users out there, Pocketmac is the tool of choice allowing you to get the most out of your Blackberry. Although, who knows, maybe the iPhone will end up being the answer to everything? Or, it will have just as many issues as most other smartphones already have? Whatever the story end up being, we’ll find out in June.

About Chris Ullrich: Chris is the technology editor at LAist as well as a frequent contributor to other sites like Cinematical and Comic Book Resources. He also consults with clients in entertainment and related industries about how technology can best help them exceed their goals.

All logos, product names, etc. are copyright or trademark of their respective owners.

photo by RIM via their website