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iPhone

Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:21 am
by wabik
Birdy,

Could you please tell me if synchronization with iPhone would take a lot of work?
iPhone already synchronize MS Outlook ...

Brgds,
wabik

Re: iPhone

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:23 pm
by Hugues59
+1
;-)

If I can synchronize an iPhone with TB, I will be the most happy guy in the world

Re: iPhone

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 5:24 am
by fuzzynavel
I agree - I would love to get my info sync'd between my iPhone and T-bird. If you decide to take a shot at programming this let me know and I'll help out financially.

Re: iPhone

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:09 am
by drewgraham
It's something I need as well.

I emailed BirdieSync about it when it was unofficially announced that the iPhone 3G was going to licence ActiveSync ages ago, and they replied with a "no idea what you're talking about" and again when it was officially announced, but they never replied.

It seems such an obvious thing for them to do with the iPhone SDK, it's use of ActiveSync and their knowledge of TB syncing. But worry not, if they don't do it, someone else will - the pieces are there to develop the software really quite easily.

Re: iPhone

Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 3:52 pm
by Melloware
+1

There is a huge need in the marketplace for syncing Thunderbird with the iPhone. Now that iPhone supports ActiveSync I would think this should be very easy for Birdy to add support for it? It should be no different than syncing with windows Mobile devices. Has anyone actually already tried BirdieSync with an iPhone? Maybe it already works?

I am a software engineer and would be more than happy to help develop this any way I can help!

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Melloware
http://www.melloware.com
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Re: iPhone

Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 6:49 pm
by Melloware
I think I am going to use this instead....

http://www.funambol.com/solutions/iphone.php

Funambol lets you wirelessly sync with the iPhone, no Itunes needed and there is a Thunderbird plugin too. So Funambol is the open source middleman holding your contacts and you use first class plugins written by Funambol for syncing with Thunderbird and iPhone 3G.

Re: iPhone

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 11:48 pm
by drewgraham
I've got an iPhone since the last post, and have spent a week getting it to sync with TB and Lightening, and thought I'd share my experiences for you.

I have 5 calendars and three address books that need syncing. The iPhone support multiple calendars but not multiple address books.

BirdieSync have not, and will not, release a sync app for the iPhone because, although Apple have licences ActiveSync, they have added it into iTunes and is even more obscure. The iPhone SDK does not, apparently, allow for the kind of interaction that would be needed to develop the sync ability. Apple are having a hard enough time getting it to work with Outlook http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jsp ... ID=1595598.

Funambol currently only support single address book syncing, and not calendars, and when it does it will be a single calendar. I can see Funambol, or a similar app, working eventually, but not for some time.

If you do use Funambol for a single address book sync, the calendar sync is more difficult - I intended to use a published ical in Lightening and access it through the iPhone, but the iPhone does not support remote icals. The only two ways of syncing with a calendar is through outlook via itunes or via an exchange / .mac service, and I could figure out no effective way to get either of those to sync with Lightening.

My solution - I ended up migrating to Outlook. I'm moving to Exchange later this year anyway, so it's no biggie, but it will be for most people, and even then you'll be hit with the problem linked above. I'm happy to answer any more Qs.

Re: iPhone

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 2:40 am
by Melloware
Thanks for that detailed review!!!

I actually only need to sync Thunderbird on two different PC's and my iPhone with the same 1 addressbook. So I think Fumnabol will suit my needs perfectly. I feel your dilemma and I think Outlook would be the easiest to migrate too, I just do NOT want to tie myself to any Microsoft products. Hopefully Fumnabol will get better and better support for iCal and Lightning in the future.