The Macintosh platform hasn't exactly achieved wide acceptance in the corporate world. Of course, Macs make great office machines, despite all the usual stereotypes about how they're ideal for individual and educational use. But though it's true that Macs have made significant gains in connectivity with enterprise systems over the years, including Windows 2003 networks and Exchange Servers, they don't work seamlessly with BlackBerry handhelds, at least not out of the box. Fortunately, PocketMac for BlackBerry 4.0 is a free app that alleviates this problem—though not as smoothly as I had hoped.

PocketMac is known for a seemingly vast array of useful utilities that let you sync up various gadgets with various Macintosh applications. This time around, the company lends its considerable development expertise to getting Macs properly acquainted with Research In Motion handhelds. (Check out PocketMac's full product line.)

PocketMac for BlackBerry's data-synchronization abilities are fairly sophisticated. In addition to syncing with Mac OS X's built-in Mail, Address Book, and iCal applications, PocketMac for BlackBerry also works with Microsoft Entourage, Now Contact, Meeting Maker, and Lotus Notes. It picks up Safari bookmarks and transfers them to your BlackBerry's built-in browser (at least in theory; more on that below). The software can back up your sync data to your online .Mac account if you have one too, and it acts as a conduit to install additional applications on your BlackBerry.

To get started, download the full application from Pocketmac's site. On that same page, toward the bottom, you'll find a full list of compatible BlackBerry handhelds, including all the major recent models you'd expect. Basically, if your device has a USB port, it should work. On the Mac side, you should be running either Panther (OS X 10.3) or Tiger (OS X 10.4). For this review, I tested PocketMac for BlackBerry 4.0 on an Intel Core 2 Duo iMac (the $1,199 configuration, with 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive) and a Sprint BlackBerry 8703e handheld.

Before downloading the application, I had to endure some complicated legalese about the government and whether or not I intended to transfer the technology overseas. It seemed like a bit much for a synchronization application. Finally, after I clicked through a dizzying number of windows, the download began. Installation was fairly seamless.

When you first start PocketMac for BlackBerry, you'll see the PocketMac Sync Manager. This app has a number of different tabs for each category, such as Contacts, Calendar, Notes, and Email, along with Status and Connection tabs for managing setup. Everything is clear and well laid out, especially when compared with older versions of the software. In order to synchronize data in each category, I placed a checkmark first in the main category tab, and then again to sync data with a specific application. PocketMac for BlackBerry also lets you forward along incoming mail straight from OS X Mail or Entourage to your BlackBerry's e-mail address.

My various tests all worked fairly well, with all data appearing on both BlackBerry and Mac without much fanfare. There was one exception, though. I could never get Safari bookmarks to sync properly on my test setup. For it to work at all, PocketMac for BlackBerry asks to install additional software on your handheld to enable this process. When I clicked OK, the application crashed. This software doesn't sync Firefox bookmarks either, so I was out of luck either way.

PocketMac for BlackBerry also behaved oddly in other ways. Every time I ran a sync process, it insisted on loading OS X Mail and placing its window front and center, so I could never watch the PocketMac status bar reach completion. I also saw some strange dialog boxes, such as the one that pops up whenever you're syncing a new category of data for the first time. That in itself is fine, except that the box cryptically reads "Tasks Sync Tool (BlackBerry806708269) would like to sync Calendars with iCal and other applications," and it gives you a confusing option to "Delete all calendars from Task Sync Tool (BlackBerry806708269) before syncing." Huh? I never checked it, and all went well, but something needs to be worked out here.

It's hard to fault a free application that's so useful, as long as it works. PocketMac for BlackBerry functions mostly without incident, and despite some flaky connection behavior, I never experienced data corruption or anything else that would give me pause about recommending it. But because of its unfinished feel, I don't yet have full confidence in the product.