BlackBerry For Mac Out Friday

Research in Motion announced that native desktop software for managing the company's BlackBerry smartphones will be available as of this Friday, October 2, at 1 PM EDT. The software will bring Mac-based mobile workers the functionality that up til now they've needed to use a third-party app for.This Friday will see the release of BlackBerry Desktop Manager for the Macintosh, which will enable Mac users to sync iCal, Address Book, and Microsoft Entourage data with their smartphones. In addition, Desktop Manager will be the way BlackBerry users manage their smartphone applications, schedule backups, and update their phone software.

The Desktop Manager Software also includes Media Sync, which taps into iTunes for syncing music and album art. iTunes playlists will show up in Desktop Manager, and users can choose which ones to transfer to their BlackBerrys.

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Until now, Mac-based BlackBerry owners have had to use PocketMac for BlackBerry. PocketMac makes software for syncing Macs with a long list of mobile devices from a variety of manufacturers.

BlackBerry Desktop Manager Software will be a free download but will require OS X 10.5.5 (Leopard) or higher, and BlackBerry OS 4.2 or higher. You can sign up here to be informed when it's available, or just visit the BlackBerry for Mac page this Friday.