Printable View
Hello, I am wondering if there is something for blackberry similar to mobile me which apple just announced. I am not on an exchange server and personally love the Mobile Me application. Do blackberries have anything similar to this for the people that dont use exchange? This will be huge in making my decision of buying a bb. Thanks in advance.
As of now...no, the only option at this point would be to use a BES, and even then it does not offer the functionality that MobileMe would offer you.
As much as I love my BlackBerry, Apple has hit the consumer market HARD with MobileMe..it pains me to say this but if those functions are what you need...
Get an iPhone..
The only way at present time you will get the exact functionality on a BlackBerry would be to combine 3-4 or more 3rd party applications.
I am hoping that by the time the Bold comes out RIM will already have something to compete with Mobile Me. They must be working on something. At least I hope they are.
With the MobileMe stuff do you have to use a .me e-mail address in order to take advantage of all the syncing? I think it actually sounds really cool, but only if you could use your existing hotmail/gmail/yahoo e-mail addresses. I wouldn't want some stupid childish sounding xxxx@me.com. That's just plain weird. Anyone know for sure (for the record I know NOTHING about this, so maybe someone that's done some more research can clarify).
Am I missing something? BIS is similar to MobileMe.... isn't it? What does MobileMe do that BIS doesn't?
You have to use the .Me address. Much like the xxx.blackberry.net address though, you can still use your normal GMail address, or whatever else you use, and just forward your mail to the MobileMe address.
The only thorn in the side of this idea is that I don't think MobileMe offers the "reply as" function, so it would essentially only be helpful for received mail.
The thing that makes MobileMe so attractive isn't just its features, but its price. To answer the OP's question, yes this can be done on a BlackBerry, it is just far more expensive.
First, you would need to increase to a BES data plan.
Second, you would need to utilize the services of a hosted BES.
For At&t, a BES plan is $45 a month. The cheapest hosted BES I have ever found is $10/mo per user, plus other fees that aren't openly disclosed. That said, the least it will cost you as of right now to get MobileMe-like functionality on your Berry is $55 a month in addition to your minute plan. (A little cheaper on T-Mobile, more expensive on Verizon. Neither of those carriers offer the iPhone though, so the are kind of outside the comparison anyway)
MobileMe offers the following to iPhone users:
Push Calendar
Push Contacts
Push Mail
Photo Syncing
20 gigs of online storage
It also includes the following for desktop web access:
Blogging
Website publishing
Backup services for computer files
Photo gallery sharing
File sharing
It is essentially an Exchange service for non-corporate users.
I would imagine that, as more people flock to BlackBerry type devices, consumer BES solutions will become more prevalent and affordable.
Given that, I won't be giving up my BB!
I wouldn't hold your breath on that one. It has been asked about for years and ignored. I hope I am wrong though.
Would mail get pushed to your iPhone with Mobileme, as smoothly as it happens on a BIS?
yes it would.
and not only would it get pushed to your iphone, it'll be pushed to every other computer synced to your mobileme account. the last time i checked, i couldn't get webmail from my BIS. would've loved to but can't.
The mobile me service will cost and extra 99 bucks a year and you already have to pay a 10 buck increase in your data plan with ATT. The phone may be cheaper than the 1st but they will get you in the end.
Apple WWDC: iPhone 3G, New Software, Mobile Me Announced | PhoneNews.com
The $10 more a month you mention would make it $30. Guess how much it costs for a data plan for a BlackBerry on At&t? Yeah, $30...
MobileMe on top of the iPhone data plan will cost you $38.25 a month.
You will get:
-Push Mail (all synced devices, and guess what, REAL IMAP...)
-Push Contacts (all synced devices)
-Push Calendar (all synced devices)
-Photo Syncing (iPhone -> web and then web -> desktop)
-20 Gigs of online storage
-Website publishing tools (desktop access only)
-Blogging tools (desktop access only I believe)
-Photo gallery creation and sharing (desktop access to make, can be viewed from any internet accessing device)
-File sharing (desktop access)
-File backup (desktop access)
By the way, this MobileMe service is completely optional. If you can't see what a good value it is though, you are blind.
To get nothing more than push mail, push contacts, and push calendar to your BlackBerry as a single, personal user, would cost you over $55 a month on At&t.
-BES plan is mandatory for BES use, so that would mean you have to upgrade to a $45 BES data plan.
-Use a hosted BES service. Cheapest I have seen is $10/mo per device + a $40 start up fee
$38.25/mo on the iPhone for data+MobileMe and I get a ****-load of features for my iPhone and for use from my desktop.
Or $55/mo on BlackBerry for BES data+hosted BES access + a $40 start up fee to only have access to push mail, push calendar, push contacts.
Which is the better deal? Seriously.
MobileMe is a bang up offer no matter how you look at it. You can hate the iPhone all day long, I don't care; denying the value of MobileMe is just plain silly though.
I agree!!!!!
Ummm, don't you have to have software running on your PC to do the push for all those features? Kind of defeats the purpose... that's no different then using Desktop Redirector on the BB, which blows the ***. I'd rather just setup my email accounts on the iPhone and then plug in to sync my contacts and calendar as needed. That's what I do with a non-BES BB now... works fine and painless.
No, it is all web based. It isn't even remotely close to the crapfest that is desktop redirector. The web severs are the "cloud" that all your devices sync to. Whenever something is changed on one of the devices, it instantly pushes it to the cloud, which then pushes it to the devices where the change wasn't made.
It is the exact same functionality as an Exchange server, without the need for a server that is up and running at all times. The web platform is the server.
It is a big deal when you have to pay over 18 dollars more for service (if you wanted MobileME included). Of course I know mobile me is optional, but this post was about MobileMe so that's what we're going to talk about.
Yea but now that competition has it, it would be smart to do it also. It would be more of a shock if RIM doesn't implement something like this than if they do.
The BlackBerry and the iPhone 3G have the same priced data plan. iPhone 1.0 users are not being forced to upgrade to the new device, and if they don't, their data stays the same.
If you use an iPhone 3G, you will be paying $8.25 more than a BlackBerry and will be getting A LOT more features.
If you use an iPhone 2G(1.0), you will be paying $1.75 LESS than a BlackBerry and will STILL be getting A LOT more features.
I am not getting where you are going to be honest.
He's getting confused... He said over $18 as those the $10 (extra data charge) + $8.25 (mobileme) are together. It is essentially $8.25 more per month, not $18.25
I am actually in the process of signing up tonight to take advantage of having a @mac.com and @me.com address.
between flickr support, googlesync for my calender and push email I could give a flying crap about mobile me....
What's the difference between googlesync and goosync? Which one do you use and what works better? Isn't there something that sync's outlook and google calendar as well?
That is the thing to me. With out "whatIwant@mydomain.com" mobile me is not worth anything. Mobile me will be free within a year because of Google's Android. Android will offer all of the same functionality for free. It will be interesting to see how they handle "push", but that is why I say a year. We should see android phones as soon as this fall.
As far as blackberry, I doubt they will offer all of that, because most of those features are covered through some form of 3rd party software.
I think you mean Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES). Exchange is just MS's email server.
No, I mean Exchange. The thing that all those non-BlackBerry devices use for push services....
BES is for BlackBerry devices and sits on top of the Exchange server to allow for BlackBerry connectivity and control. You don't need a BES to have push calendar, contacts, and email on a non BlackBerry device.