Gmail on BlackBerry: Pros and Cons

Google has launched a new service that will enable operating Gmail and calendar items on the native client software on BlackBerry devices.

It was announced that the service will be included with the Premier and Education editions of Google Apps. Google messages of the users will be pushed to the e-mail client on their BlackBerry, and messages sent from their phones will appear as if they were from their organization's Google mail account. Furthermore, users will be able to access their organization's Google address list, and to synchronize contacts and calendar items right from their phone.

The service requires organizations to add a piece of software to their BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), and that software is available today only for the Microsoft Exchange version of BES.

Some of the shortcomings of the launch could be that calendar items can be synchronized only from the server to the user's phone; that the service will initially support only 250 users per BES (which handles at least 500 users), and if an enterprise wants to support more than 250 Google Apps users, it will have to use an additional BES; some functions, such as calendar item reminders, don't work smoothly with the BlackBerry. However, the company plans to update the service over time. 

The service is in beta and will be commercially available in July.