PushMail [$2.99 - iTunes link] has just gone 2.0. For those unfamiliar with PushMail, its a middleapp that creates an account for you to forward email, and when it’s alerted to that new email, it sends out a push notification to your iPhone. New features this time around include:

• 25 sound options
• Set silent periods (e.g. during the time you typically sleep)
• History, to view past notifications
• Customize notifications (choose what info you want to display, and what you want to keep private).
• View button to open message in PushMail, Mail, or Safari
• Configuration help and trouble-shooting
• Profiles to let you override certain settings based on specific criteria. (e.g. don’t push any email from the mother-in-law!)

Both the history and the profiles options sound terrific. For those who want GoogleSync-style push Gmail but are already using their only ActiveSync slot for Exchange, this is another option.

If you try it out, let us know what you think!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Quick App Update: PushMail 2.0 Email Push Notification for iPhone

Apple has begun emailing registered developers with the following:

As a developer actively working with iPhone OS 3.0 beta, we would like your help in testing the Apple Push Notification service. We have selected a pre-release version of the Associated Press app for iPhone OS 3.0 to create a high-volume test environment for our servers.

Great move on Apple’s part, provided they recruit enough developers to really test the scaling of their iPhone 3.0 Push Notification system. After last year’s disastrous MobileMe launch, Apple needs to make sure their infrastructure is as bullet-proof as possible before they pull the push lever… even if they are planning some limited multitasking as well…

Full text after the break:

Help test the Apple Push Notification service

Dear [redacted],

As a developer actively working with iPhone OS 3.0 beta, we would like your help in testing the Apple Push Notification service. We have selected a pre-release version of the Associated Press app for iPhone OS 3.0 to create a high-volume test environment for our servers.

To participate, we ask that you follow these steps:

1. Download the pre-release version of the Associated Press app for iPhone OS 3.0 from the iTunes Store via your desktop by entering this unique redemption code in the ‘Redeem’ section of iTunes, found under the ‘Quick Links’ section: [redacted] This unique redemption code and the functionality of the application will expire in seven days.

2. Install the application on a development device running iPhone OS 3.0 beta 5 by synching it to iTunes. Make sure to accept notifications when prompted after installation. This application can only be installed on devices running iPhone OS 3.0 beta 5.

3. When you first run the app, choose U.S. English as your region when prompted. The U.S. English region will receive alerts, the Canadian English region will not. For purposes of the test, AP will be sending a high-volume of real news alerts.

4. If you do not receive notifications from the app within 48 hours after installation, let us know.

We appreciate your assistance,

iPhone Developer Program

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple Recruiting Developers to Beta Test Push Notification

Looks like iPhone 3.0 Beta 5 doth giveth a little as well. That tiny email icon present in the top navigation bar of podcasts was decorative only until Beta 4, when it began to allow you to email the iTunes Store link for a friend for any podcast you’d downloaded over-the-air (at least for some it did). Now, with Beta 5, that tiny email icon is powered up and working for podcasts synced over via iTunes as well.

Earth shattering? No. But if you’re enjoying a great episode of Phone different, GDGT, TWiT, YLNT, or whatever else floats your audio boat, and you want to give a friend easy access to equal entertainment, it’s certainly a great convenience.

[Thanks anon for the tip!]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone 3.0 Beta 5: Email Podcast Links from iPod App

Following hot on the heels of last Tuesday’s monster iPhone OS 3.0 announcement, Apple wants developers to know that there’s never been a better time to develop for the iPhone:

With a rich set of over 1,000 new APIs, iPhone SDK for iPhone OS 3.0 beta provides you with an amazing range of technologies to enhance the functionality of your iPhone and iPod touch applications. New APIs also provide support for applications to communicate with hardware accessories attached to iPhone or iPod touch.

Any devs previously sitting on the fence finally decide 3.0 is finally enough to push you over?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple Calling Emailing All Developers

We get it: Apps are the new Internet. If the recent TV commercials weren’t hint enough, if redesigning the Apple Stores to put them front-and-center wasn’t crystal clear, Apple has sent out an email reminding us that the iPhone Apps, they are good!

Over 15,000 (20,000 but most counts), Apple focuses on ZAGAT TO GO, Flick Bowling, Allrecipes.com, Weightbot, and iHandy Level.

Apple has long said that software, not hardware was their key differentiator, and they’re certainly making sure everyone else knows it as well.

Is it working? Are Apps hooking new buyers the way “just the Internet”-focused advertising hooked previous ones?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple iPhone Email Highlight Apps

Here is yet another case of a 3rd party developer picking up the slack for Apple. Sorry, we are not here to tell you that you can now have true MMS like the Portuguese! But we are here to let you know that you can now send multiple photos in a single email with Aqua Eagles new app, Multi-Photo. [iTunes Link] Read more after the break!

This app is a no brainer for anyone looking to email multiple photos, and for the low price of $0.99 you can not go wrong. More importantly, Multi-Photo is simple to use. First you need to setup your mail account within the app. Unfortunately, it doesn’t let you simply choose an existing account on your phone but it does automatically setup certain account types such as MobileMe. Enter in your username and password and you are good to go.

While sending photos, you have the option to select photos from your Camera Roll or Photo Library. Simply tap “Add Photo” on each photo you’d like to send, type in or select a recipient (You can use your address book) for your email, enter a subject line and any text you may want, and finally hit send. You’ve just sent multiple photos in a single email on a Apple iPhone!

*It is important to note, in the settings you have the option to compress the images or not. It is set to on by default.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Quick App: Multi-Photo Sends More than One Photo in a Single Email

Welcome to iPhone 101, our help and how-to series for brand new and beginner iPhone users. If you’re moving up from a feature phone, you may be surprised to discover one feature the iPhone is missing: MMS. Whether it’s still coming, inexplicably omitted, or a callous way to force users into platform and device independent protocols, currently the only way to send a photo from your iPhone is via good old Email. After the break, we’ll show you how!

To send a photo, you need to be in either the Photo application or the Camera Roll inside the Camera application.

If you’re in the Photo app, first choose the album that contains your photo. If you’re in the Camera Roll, you’re already good to go.

Either tap the photo you want to send, or swipe sideway to browse through the album and find it. Once you have your photo, if you don’t see the menu bar already, tap the screen once to bring it up. On the bottom left, tap the Send Photo icon to slide up your options.

Choose the Email Photo. (If you have MobileMe, you’ll see you can also send your Photo directly to your web gallery — more on that in a future post).

Your photo will shrink a bit and a blank email message will slide up behind it.

Tap on the To: field and start typing to bring up email addresses from your contacts. As as many as you like. You can also tap on the CC/BCC field to copy additional contacts or add blind copies, and to change your Sent From: address if you have more than one email account set up on your iPhone.

Tap Subject to give your email a title, and tap above the photo in the body of the email to add any descriptions or messages you want to go along with your Photo.

When you’re happy with your email, hit Send and presto! your email is on its way.

Note: Presently you can only send one photo via email at a time, so you’ll have to wait until it finishes sending the email to repeat the process (how long this takes depends on the speed of your connection: fast for WiFi, fast-ish for 3G/HSPA, and slooooow for 2G/EDGE). The email option will be ghosted out while your iPhone is busy, so if you see it available, you’ll know you’re good to go to send the next Photo.

Let us know how it works for you, and if have any extra tips for new users, please drop them in the comments!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone 101: How to Email a Photo from Your iPhone

In case you haven’t read it already, our editor-in-chief, Dieter Bohn, has an outstanding article up at sibling-site WMExperts highlighting his top 5 reasons Twitter is better than SMS (and vice versa).

There’s a lot of intertube fuss about SMS lately, as a recent New York Times article once again shone the spotlight on the disgustingly dirty price gouging (and potential fixing) that goes on when it comes to SMS rates in North America. Basically, SMS (at 160 bytes/characters) is ridiculously cheap for the carriers to transmit, no matter what the scale, and yet the prices have doubled from $0.10 to $0.20 on many networks over the last few years. Voice, by contrast, involves much more data and is much more “expensive” in terms of infrastructure costs. North Americans will pay ludicrous sums of money for “cheap” SMS but not for “expensive” voice, so the carriers take advantage.

Dieter points out that the cost, community, compatibility, control, and context of Twitter give it a clear advantage of SMS, even as the discoverability, dilution of quality, dropping 20 characters, downtime, and potential delays in notification (outside the US) make it still far from perfect.

Flaws and all, Dieter is moving towards Twitter (@backlon) and away from SMS. Am I going to do the same? I already have (@reneritchie) and without really considering it. But here’s the thing — I have considered that not only should I not have to consider it, I don’t think any iPhone user should. (Or any @theiphoneblog follower either!)

I mentioned in my return to the iPhone 3G Round Robin final review that one of the things I’d like to see for the iPhone is a Mobile iChat app, but really taken to the next level. BlackBerry PIN messenger is what puts the “crack” in CrackBerry.com and an always on, multi-tasking Mobile iChat client would go a long way to putting some in the iPhone as well. Beyond that, however, Apple is famous for being the one company that really understands something truly significant for consumer end users:

The interface is the application.

There’s already an SMS client on the iPhone, and guess what? It already kind of looks like iChat. If Apple stuck a Mobile iChat client on as well, it could look functionally identical. So why, then, would Apple need to add that client? Some Twitter clients looks functionally very similar to iChat already as well. Why, then, would we need separate Twitter clients?

From a user-perspective, abstracting an application away from the pipes that feed it is a huge win. Take Mobile Mail for example, you can setup a Gmail, Exchange, MobileMe, or other email account, yet the app itself looks and functions the same regardless. Add one account, take another away, and the user experience doesn’t change. This means that, behind the scenes, you can pretty much muck around with the pipes, improve them, swap an old one out for a new one, drop a troublesome one for a reliable one, all with very low impact on the front end — maybe even no impact at all. It’s transparent to the end user.

Now imagine there was a presence client on the iPhone — I’ll stick with calling it Mobile iChat to keep it simple. You set up your SMS account, your Twitter, your AIM, MobileMe, Jabber, Google Chat… whatever and then you have one consistent UI that elegantly handles and presents your conversations to you. If one pipe disappears, like Pownce, you just delete that account or foward to another. If a new pipe shows up, like BlackBerry announces PIN-like messenger for the iPhone (breathe Kevin, breathe!) you just add it in.

There are, of course, a bunch of reasons why this isn’t likely to happen, and lots of people who prefer to keep their cookies all in separate jars anyway. My personal belief remains, however, that this is the future, and the iPhone is the device that’s going to bring us the closest and the fastest to that future.

Of course, there will always be a place for “better” dedicated client apps that provide unique, rich features focused on a single protocol, but who knows, with push email, maybe all inter-personal text communications could eventually fold into a single unified, consistent, experience. It would, at the very least, be nice to have as a hyper-productivity meets connectivity option. wouldn’t it?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

On Twitter and SMS and Why it Shouldn’t Matter to iPhone Users

Update: Wide Email developer Patrick Barry comments below that, according to Macrumors, FOUR landscape email front-ends popped up on the App Store last night, including his own.

We are finally getting closer and closer to the perfect iPhone no? If Apple will not give it to us, 3rd party developers are our only hope. (Whether it is via jailbreaking or Apple’s official App Store.)

TouchType (iTunes Link) is a new app available now in the App Store for the low price of $.99 — a small price to pay for those of you just craving some landscape email action. Now all that is left is some SMS landscape love.

Here’s a brief overview of how it works: Open the application and you get a landscape mode keypad, get your email groove on, tap the send button and it automatically sends it to the email application. Type in the email addresses and you’re all set.

Is it ideal? That depends on you. It may be, may not be… but it is just one step closer to the perfection we all seek.

[Rene: And if you're asking how this slipped by the Apple rejection police when MailWrangler got given the boot... Our guess is Apple is fine with an App handing off text to MobileMail to send, just not doing the sending/receiving themselves...]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Landscape Email! TouchType App Now Available in App Store

[Note: This a a Wait-A-Thon post! Comment on this post -- or any post tagged "Wait-a-Thon" -- for your chance to win a $100 iTunes Gift Card! Note that you must post with a valid and real email address so we can send you your prize -- no switching!]

More and more people are switching to the iPhone. They’re switching from Palm and Windows Mobile and Blackberry smartphones to the iPhone. They’re switching carriers to get the iPhone. And now that the next-gen iPhone 3G is all but upon us, and more and more regions are announcing their plans and pricing, the switching is only going to get faster and more furious.

To celebrate the switchers, those who dare to phone different, the iPhone Blog wants to help you get your content off your old, perhaps restrictive and outdates systems, and onto your shiny, new iPhone.

We’ve already gone over how to move your music, movies, and other media to iTunes, so now it’s time to get with the data: contacts, calendars, and email.

Read on to find out how!

This article assumes you’re switching from another smartphone, like Blackberry, Windows Mobile, or Palm, and are new to the iTunes + iPod (and iPhone!) ecosystem. It also assumes you’re a dedicated Windows user or someone who just recently switched from Windows to the Mac and needs to transfer content to an iPhone.

Since longtime iPod (and Mac) aficionados will almost certainly already be using iTunes and the typical Mac applications, your iPhone will sync your content via iTunes the same as it would any other iPod. And, hey, if you’re a Linux (or any other *nix) user, I figure you’ve kept your content open from the get-go, and already know 18 different ways to get it onto your unlocked, jailbroken iPhone hax0red with Open Moko anyway…

“Push” First: Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and Apple MobileMe

With iPhone firmware 2.0, everything changes. Why lead with this? Because if you intend to use either Exchange and/or MobileMe with your iPhone, you can read this section and you’re pretty much done. (Or at least you can skip ahead to photos at the end — though be sure to download iTunes anyway for your media). With Exchange and MobileMe (billed as Exchange for the rest of us), iTunes data sync is eliminated, cables are eliminated, and intermittent syncing becomes a thing of the past. With these “push” solutions, everything is automagically updated wirelessly (via WiFi or EDGE/HSPA cell network). Change something in Outlook and a few seconds later, your iPhone will show the same changes. Tweak some data on your iPhone, and a few seconds later, MobileMe’s website will show the same tweak.

(Not using ActiveSync or MobileMe? No worries. Skip to the next section and we’ll start setting up iTunes for local sync!)

So, to simply and easily set up most of your syncing using iPhone 2.0: tap Settings, tap Mail, Contacts, and Calendars (Just Mail if you’re doing Exchange on iPhone 1.x), tap Add Account, and then select the type of account you would like to add.

Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync

ActiveSync makes its debut with iPhone 2.0, and doesn’t function on the older, 1.x firmware, so if you intend to use it, make sure you have an iPhone 3G or have updated your original iPhone (2G) to the latest firmware as of July 11, 2008. To setup Exchange ActiveSync, tape the logo for it. If you’re using Exchange 2007 on the back end, you may be able to automatically set up your account. If you can’t, or are using an old version of Exchange — or just in general due to the complex and fussy nature of setting up an Exchange account in general — you’re best practice is to check with your Exchange administrator (or hosted service provider).

Apple MobileMe (formerly .Mac)

MobileMe, Apple’s replacement for .Mac and it’s “Exchange for the Rest of Us”. It will sync, wirelessly, over the air (OTA), contacts, calendars, mail, and photos between the iPhone and your Mac (with the aforementioned Address Book, iCal, Mail.app, and iPhoto) and/or PC (with Outlook). MobileMe will debut on July 11, 2008 alongside iPhone 3G and the 2.0 firmware, and should “just work” once you enter in your MobileMe username and password (previous users of .Mac will keep the same credentials, and will be able to use either user@mac.com or user@me.com interchangeably).

Local Sync: Getting iTunes

What Data Does iTunes Sync?

If you already have your data in Outlook, you’re good to go for the iPhone. If you have it in another application, or scattered among a few applications… well, we’ll get to that in a moment.

On the Mac side, iTunes “just works” with Apple’s default applications, Address Book, iCal, Mail.app, Safari, and iPhoto, or with Microsoft’s Entourage. Since sync services, contacts, calendaring, etc. are all “CoreServices” handled at the OS level, once you check the appropriate boxes in iTunes, the automagic process is almost transparent. You can even sync to Microsoft Office Entourage (Outlook’s ugly step-sibling on the Mac side) by syncing Entourage with the default apps via CoreServices.

Similarly, if you don’t have your data in these Mac apps yet, or have it scattered elsewhere, we’ll also get to that in a moment.

Now let’s break it down…

Syncing Your Contacts

These three protocols are all supported from directly within iTunes. If you have your contacts in one of them, simply choose the appropriate program from the drop-down in iTunes and your information will be moved right over to your iPhone.

From Apple OS X: Address Book, Yahoo! Address Book, and Google Contacts

On the Mac version of iTunes, you can check both Apple’s Address Book and Yahoo! Address Book if you so choose. (I keep things simple — and fear duplicates — so I recommend picking one and sticking with it.)

If you’re running OS X Leopard 10.5.3 or later, you can also sync your Gmail Contacts with your iPhone, using a more round-about method: launch Address Book, select Preferences from the Address Book menu, and check the box next to Synchronize with Google. Once set up, this will sync your Google Contacts to your Address Book, and then iTunes will sync them from Address Book to your iPhone.

From Everywhere Else: Thunderbird, Windows Live, Google Contacts

If you have your contacts in anything other than the above-mentioned programs or services, you’ll have to move them over before you can sync them with the iPhone. Many programs/services allow you to export CSV files or vCards, including: Mozilla Thunderbird, Microsoft Windows Live, and Google Contacts.

Once you’ve got your export file, simply import the contacts back into Outlook, Address Book, Yahoo! Address Book and you’re golden.

Syncing Your Calendar

For reasons known only to Apple and Microsoft, Outlook is your only calendar/event choice for syncing with the iPhone. (The drop down is so far only a merciless tease at options yet (maybe never?) to come).

From Apple OS X: iCal

Like Windows, OS X provides only one option for calendar sync: iCal (and not even a drop down to tease more.) Check it and go.

From Everywhere Else: Google Calendar, Windows Calendar, etc.

Many popular Calendar programs are compatible with the iCalendar format, which allows you to publish and/or subscribe from one program (and even platform) to another. Using this feature, you can try to move your data over your iPhone. Here’s an example using Google Calendar:

You can subscribe to Google Calendars through Outlook on Windows, or use the Google Calendar Sync utility. Unfortunately the iPhone thus far doesn’t reliably sync from anything besides the Outlook default Calendar, which means the subscribed Google Calendar doesn’t get moved over unless you use a commercial product like the Paul Thurrott referenced SyncMyCal.

For Mac users a one way (Google to iPhone) work-around involves subscribing to your Google Calendar. From Google Calendar: Click on the Calendar Settings drop down, click on Private Address, and click on iCal to generate a private address for your Google Calendar especially designed for iCal. Copy the URL and open iCal. Inside iCal: Select the Calendar menu and click on Subscribe, then paste in the Private Address you copied from Google Calendar. Next time you sync, iCal will feed your Google Calendar to your iPhone. For bi-directional sync (Google to iPhone and iPhone to Google), there’s the commercial Spanning Sync, and you can try the demo before you buy.

Theoretically, you could also try exporting and importing XML, CSV, or another cross-program file, although in my experience this often requires a vast amount of work (and Googling, and message board begging…)

Syncing Your Email

Two options for Windows users, the ubiquitous Outlook and Windows Mail (which I believe is an “upgrade” to the horrible Outlook Express rather a desktop version of the far superior WIndows Live Mail — tsk tsk to both Apple and Microsoft).

From Apple OS X: Mail.app

Still only one choice from Apple OS X users, however: Apple’s default mail client, the eponymous Mail.app. Again, just one checkbox, to keep with the ultra simple groove. (Usability over options is a mantra).

From Everywhere Else: Google Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, AOL, Microsoft Live/Hotmail, etc.

Yahoo! Mail can be setup as an IMAP email account on your iPhone, which means your Yahoo! Mail folders on your iPhone will exactly match your folders on Yahoo!’s website and vice versa. Also, Yahoo! provides “push” email for the iPhone, meaning changes to one will be reflected automatically and near-instantly in the other, just like Exchange ActiveSync and MobileMe (but without the calendar and contacts sync).

You can also set up your Gmail account, including the new Gmail IMAP service which works like Yahoo! Mail — but without the “push” — keeping your web, local client (i.e. Outlook, Mail, etc.), and web-based views synchronized at user-definable intervals (manually, every 10 minutes, etc.).

Unfortunately, since they don’t (to the best of my knowledge) surface any open, standard protocols like IMAP or POP, Microsoft Live/Hotmail accounts can’t easily be synced with the iPhone. Your options include signing up for a Yahoo! or Gmail account and manually moving the messages over to your new, IMAP-happy account, or you can try this free solution and see if it works for you.

For any ISP mail, you can simply set up the iPhone as a POP (or IMAP if they offer it — much better!) client.

Syncing Your Bookmarks

iTunes supports syncing over all your bookmarks from Internet Explorer (hopefully the much more secure and standards friendly IE 7, right?) and Windows Safari (Apple’s own browser). Hierarchies will be preserved, so think about how you’ll use your booksmarks both on the desktop and the iPhone, and organize a good middle ground.

From Apple Mac OS X: Safari

No choices here. Check Safari and move along.

From Everywhere Else: Firefox, Opera, etc.

If you’re using Firefox, Opera, or another Firefox-like (Mozilla Gecko powered), or Safari-like (Apple WebKit powered) browser, is to try and import your bookmarks into Internet Explorer or Safari (export first via HTML if you have to).

If you want to keep using Firefox (or another browser) for desktop use, there’s no way to keep your bookmarks synced, unfortunately, but you can delete the IE or Safari bookmarks (since you’re not using them) and re-import a fresh, updated set whenever you like.

Syncing Your Photos

For Windows users, the procedure to sync photos to the iPhone is as simple as it is non-powerful. Put all the photos you want to sync in a folder (or hierarchy of folders if you want to separate them out, e.g., Family, Friends, Birthday, etc.) and then select that folder in iTunes.

From Apple Mac OS X: iPhoto and Folder Sync

For Mac users, in addition to the folder sync described above, you can also chose to sync from Apple’s iPhoto application, either your complete library, or from selected sub-libraries.

From Everywhere Else: Yahoo! Flickr, Facebook, Google Picasa, etc.

If you keep your photo collection online (i.e. Flickr, Facebook, Photoshop Express, Windows Live, etc.), you’re going to have to target a desktop backup, or download the photos you want on your iPhone to a local directory. Put all the photos you want to sync in one folder, and make sure you note down the location of that folder (e.g. iPhone Photos). This will be the folder you target inside iTunes as described above.

For Picasa, make sure you organize all the pictures you want on your iPhone into one folder, or a hierachy of folders, and then that will be the folder your target from inside iTunes, also as described above.

Wait! Help! My Data is Stuck On My Phone!

From the Original iPhone (iPhone 2G) to iPhone 3G

Apple provides excellent directions for upgrading to the iPhone 3G.

From RIM Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and Palm Treo (Windows Mobile OS)

Blackberry’s are data monsters. Data — all of it, all now, all the time — is the only reason for a Blackberry. It’s why RIM invented the Blackberry. Windows Mobile, whether running on a Motorola, Samsung, HTC, Palm, or whatever device, is made to integrate with other Microsoft products like Exchange, ActiveSync, and Outlook/Entourage. (Note: Always make sure you have the latest/greatest firmware, patches, updates, etc. from your phone carrier and platform provider).

From a Blackberry or ActiveSync perspective, pretty much all business users will have an Exchange server of one kind or another available to them. Just use ActiveSync on your new iPhone 2.0 and you’re good to go. (Check with IT if you have to, especially for the settings information).

If you don’t have a business Exchange server but you do have access to a Windows computer with Microsoft Outlook on it, sync your Blackberry to Outlook, then Outlook to your iPhone.

For Mac users, check out Markspace, which provides a variety of phone-specific syncing solutions especially for the Mac. They’re not free, but the time and effort they’ll save you are well worth it. (I used to it get my data off a Palm OS Treo 680 into the default Apple apps and it worked seamlessly).

If you don’ have any of the above available to you, try a hosted Exchange service, even temporarily. Sync your Blackberry data to that, then ActiveSync it to your new iPhone, and cancel the hosted Exchange service.

From Palm OS Treo

Palm OS (Garnet) Treo’s can work similarly to the above if you have ActiveSync installed (or download it from Palm’s website – warning, direct file link!) and access to an Exchange server (business or hosted). 

Similarly if you have access to Outlook. If you’re stuck in Palm Desktop, you’ll first have to find your Palm install CD and go through the setup again, choosing Outlook instead.

(Mac users, see Markspace, above).

From a Feature Phone

If you don’t have a smartphone, but are coming instead from a standard consumer feature phone (candybar or flip phone from Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, etc.) and have data on there you really don’t want to retype, you can try looking for a data transfer kit that matches your phone. These vary widely in form, availability, and functionality, and will cost you money and time, but if you have both check out Howard Forums or even Google. Search and ask around. Be key word specific (i.e. “transfer data nokia model# outlook”. Best of luck, and please share what you find in case others are trying out the same.

Conclusion

Well, there they are, my tips and tricks for getting your data off the old and outdated just in time for your brand new iPhone 3G/2.0. But try as I might, I know our readers — the real data ninjas — have a whole host of sneaky black magic all their own.

What are your best tips and tricks? Drop a comment and let us know!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Switching to iPhone: How To Move Your Contacts, Calendar, Email, Bookmarks, and Photos to the iPhone – Wait-a-Thon!