I like my 8820!

I don't want craptastic windows on my system in any way, shape, or form. I'm a Mac user that bought a piece of hardware (the Storm) that was sold to me under the auspices of compatibility with the hardware and OS I prefer. I love this phone, but RIM is trying to make me HATE IT! No IMAP folder support from the built-in email client, weak synchronization support (pocketmac=FAIL), intermittent and spontaneous system crashes, and a host of minor UI complaints (who QCs your software, RIM?). With each passing day, I get closer to giving up on the Storm. I want so desperately to believe that improvements are coming, but how long do even minor updates take, for pete's sake? Show me that you are trying to get it right and I'll hang on.

Very frustrating. Just got off the phone with RIM and they claim that there is no plans to release a Mac version of the BB Manager software any time soon. When I asked how I, as a Mac user, should go about updating my operating software on my BB, the rep said, "You'll need to find a friend and borrow their PC for an hour or two." Grrrr....

Ugh. Looks like a bloody iPhone is in my near future.

I have a dell and mac. i've tried to use the mac media sync from rim and it fails imo. it took my music and put it on the storage card but i can't see them on the Bold menu for music. go figure. even if rim comes out with a mac desktop i would not plan on it working for a while based on their mac product already available. their track record is certainly not one of high quality software development.
if anyone has any idea on how to fix mac media sync please send me some clues ... please.

Yeah, dare I say I might have to lean that way myself. I hate the thought because there is so much I LOVE about my BB. Maybe a critical mass of us could really push RIM to get Mac-supported software up and running? I just have a hard time believing that it's that complicated when you consider all the technological feats the BB represents. Can anyone share what the hold up is?

Why would Mac want RIMS devices to work on their system?

If the Mac market share is around 10% of the overall PC market, it begs the question:

How many businesses do you know voluntarily turn down 10% of their businesses?

That's stupid question. First of all, the company is Apple, not Mac. Second that would be like saying why would MS allow Word Perfect to run on Windows, or Quick Time to run on Windows. You OS wouldn't be very popular if you stopped your competitors from developing for your platform.

That's been my argument, I am just getting fed up with them taking forever. People who think a worldwide company is going to ignore Mac's because it is 10% of less of the market are insane. That 10% (or 7% or 8%, whatever you want to claim) is still millions and millions and millions of potential customers for a global company like RIM.

Heck, even Microsoft makes their products available on Mac. I am using Excel 08 right now. The problem with RIM and the Blackberry is that no one knows how fast they are moving, so we don't know if patience will be worth it. My patience is running thin, which is why if the next generation iPhone comes out before the BB Mac DM, I'm gone.

I did see someone post a note the other day that they were told directly by RIM developers (at CES in January) that a Mac desktop manager would be available in the first half of the year. It is the internet so who knows how true that is, but it is at least a reason for hope.

I think RIM also said that BB OS 5.0 was suppose to be out last year. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for RIM to deliver this.

This is pretty much why I went iPhone. Such a better platform anyway (though I definitely miss the unified Inbox and keyboard, the first Apple can fix, the second impossible) for applications and utility.

I'm starting to type pretty quickly and only missing the keyboard a little bit.

Typing will become a lot easier when 3.0 comes out and the landscape keyboard is available on all apps.

That's when my current Verizon contract ends. If I cant get my BB to sync by then (after I got a new laptop, its never synced), its bye bye blackberry and thus bye bye Verizon. I've spent the last 2 weeks playing phone tag with Verizon techs who have given up caring on trying to make this work.

The worst part is I am about to buy 2 more macs for my sisters and we all have individual Verizon plans, meaning their phones wont sync either... so why bother keeping Verizon then? Or toss in my parents who are a significant portion of who we call.... stupid Blackberry! And to think I convinced others to buy them!

Actually, there is a free 14 day trial of MissingSync. From an e-mail I received from MarkSpace:

the mac desktop software is currently being tested internally. should be out in a few months.

Just in time to compete with the next generation iPhone and OS 3.0. It's rumoured to release on July 17.

If true, thats a BIG step forward for RIM. LONG over due.

a few means 3 (or less than 5?) - so we can expect it by Fall? Snow Leopard comes out in September. Maybe they are waiting for that but by then we'll have Exchange Support in OS X and not desktop manager for synching.

almost the same here,i may not have went through that many before getting the iphone

If there is no iPhone for Verizon before my contract is up, I'm switching to AT&T for an iPhone... I am really hating the non-sync going on and it didn't bother me as much until now when I decided to go back to school, am planning a wedding, etc. and I need to find things in one location, or I'll forget to do them. Plus, when my BB decided it wasn't going to charge (and thus, when I woke up one morning and it would not turn on!) and I had to get a new one, and Verizon could only sync my contacts (thank god for google sync I got my calendar still!) I lost everything else I had in the phone, a lot of wedding plans, info, etc.
Its not worth it, now I worry about it constantly and I'm always entering all my info by hand into my mac every night, in case the BB stops working again...

I think it's complete but it's gotten a National Security rating and is presently being detained at Area 51, along with the Roswell aliens. In fact, those aliens might be who wrote it!

Let us hope for the best. A decent application would do many users good.

Just as a note about my experience with both apps.
Missing Sync support is not very good and my "set as primary" numbers/emails/addresses in my Address Book always get reset with a work label on my BB and in Address Book. This messes with voice command usage a lot (and for default functions that use the address book on my MacBook). Missing Sync is also very big on not releasing minor fixes but full releases that you have to pay to upgrade. They add lots of features but that problem of mishandling the labels still exists. Missing Sync does offer a lot more options for managing sync services including bluetooth sync and more media sync options. Missing Sync also has a crappy notes sync. The application has to be opened and then closed to have updated sync data shown. This has also been a reported bug since the previous version.
PocketMac was working great and then just... stopped. It is very basic but when it works it works well. The notes sync works with the built in stickies app and I've never had any issues with that function.

I've had both applications delete contacts for no apparent reason. I've had to run each as "warn for any change" as neither app can be trusted not to delete contacts randomly. Both applications have also caused locked contacts (they won't delete without a full wipe as if they are secured).

They are the only real options right now and they each kind of work but not in any reliable fashion.

I preferred MissingSync over PocketMac, but I've since just completely given up. I was tired of the constant errors that would come up out of nowhere, and after paying for the MissingSync software, it just seemed ridiculous that it never quite worked properly. I even paid again to upgrade, thinking many of the issues would be fixed, but that was a mistake.

I have a PC that I can use for backups and OS upgrades, but my main computer is my iMac. I want to be able to sync iCal events and tasks as well as my address book without any worries or hassle, but now I just use Google Calendar instead. The automatic wireless syncing is nice, but it's unfortunately that the app can't sync Google's tasks with the Blackberry tasks.

When it comes to RIM releasing a full featured DM for OS X, I'm not going to hold my breath.

Received a message on my 8310 to upgrade my phone. Not having a PC I can not upgrade. I decided to estimate what it would cost me to run Windows on my Macbook Pro, running OSX 10.4.11. By the time I bought all of the software it would cost between $180 to approximately $250. If I wanted to use a Windows machine I would have bought a windows machine. It would be cheaper to buy a second generation iPhone off eBay and leave the Blackberry in the dust than it would to make my MAC "compliant" with what RIM thinks all Blackberry users should use as computers.

SO WHERE IS THE MAC DM THAT RIM HAS STATED IS COMING FOR THE PAST FEW YEARS! (Rant mode off.)

I hope that everything is going well for anyone that happens to read this!


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so there is no way to update the os on my blackberry without windows correct?

Correct.

fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuudge

I think it might be time to get an iPhone.

Pocketmac and missing sync absolutley suck. RIM could not care less about mac users.
I'm so tired of the missing data, the lost contacts, inability to really "synch" re-installing crummy pocketmac everyday.

I don't want to do it. I've owned a lot of blackberries but they dont get it. Why would it possibly take so long for a DM for mac? it is ridiculous.

They have themselves to blame. Shame.

Someone on the blackberry.com forums says he got a reply to an email sent to saying that the Mac desktop app had been developed and was in beta testing, but there is no firm release date. I think we should all pester them until we get some sort of an idea what is going on.