Travel Technology - Exchange/BES alternatives for sole proprietors?

Looking for advice on how to do "cloud" data without subscribing to exchange or BES services.

My current setup:
- IMAP email read with Outlook on a Windows laptop and with Chatter on a Palm OS treo
- Calendar, tasks, contacts and notes stored in an Outlook .pst file on my laptop, manually sync'ed once a day to their respective data files on my Treo.

This setup has a bunch of problems which are really starting to get on my nerves:
1) My PIM data is out of sync more often than it is in sync
2) I can't sync when I'm traveling, because my Treo automatically adjusts for time zone changes and Outlook doesn't, so all my appointments would get messed up
3) Outlook is *really* bad at IMAP

I know I can solve most of this by getting hosted exchange services and switching to WinMo (or BB). But I wonder: has anyone here figured out a scheme that uses some of new web-based tools that are starting to show up (Plaxo, RememberTheMilk, Google Calendar, Goosync, etc)?

I am in a similar situation business-wise. I put my email and calendar on Google and am mostly happy with the result. I use the web interface rather than Outlook and it works pretty well. There is a calendar sync app for the BB (dunno about Palm Treo) and the IMAP interface is OK for reading mail and responding.

I'd start investigating that direction and see if it would work for you. It is free, which is particularly nice.

use the web interface rather than Outlook ... There is a calendar sync app for the BB (dunno about Palm Treo)...

With the web interface, can you do offline email - like if you want to respond to a bunch of emails while on a plane, for instance?

And sadly, there are no Google helper apps at all for Palm OS.

I think you know the answer ...

I have a BB with a hosted exchange server. It has worked flawlessly since I started with it two years ago. That is what it is designed for, and that is what it does. I use it all over the world and I mean all over.

My wife has a separate business and has been using the service also, same results. Again, a lot of travel.

As someone that has no one to support him in business but himself, I can't afford to be out of touch, or have something work sometimes. It needs to be working and right-now, right-there.

It does cost money, but it is worth it. With free/low cost services you get what you pay for.

With the web interface, can you do offline email - like if you want to respond to a bunch of emails while on a plane, for instance?

And sadly, there are no Google helper apps at all for Palm OS.

You can do offline if you also run Outlook or another IMAP client that will sync the content. The web interface itself will cache a little bit but very little overall. If I have a bunch of emails that I need to initiate I find that I just write them in Textpad and paste them in when I land. Not perfect, but not bad.

I'm also in the process of getting a hosted Exchange provider service off the ground - including hosted BES - so I'll soon have that available to me for free. I'm almost certain that I won't migrate my personal domains over, but I might migrate my work domain. The BES/Exchange/Outlook configuration really is well integrated, but you have to pay for it.

Just wanted to add... iPhone can also sync over the air with hosted exchange accounts now. I don't believe task sync though.

I think you know the answer ...

I have a BB with a hosted exchange server. It has worked flawlessly since I started with it two years ago. That is what it is designed for, and that is what it does. I use it all over the world and I mean all over.

My wife has a separate business and has been using the service also, same results. Again, a lot of travel.

As someone that has no one to support him in business but himself, I can't afford to be out of touch, or have something work sometimes. It needs to be working and right-now, right-there.

It does cost money, but it is worth it. With free/low cost services you get what you pay for.

Yes, I agree. But I don't like Outlook's PIM, so before I make the required changes (new handset, new services), I thought I would see what else there is.

We're using Google Apps/hosted with email for the IT stuff I do at my church. We got to keep our domain name during the transition, so you can have a proper email domain address.

Push works perfectly with BIS and then we use the Blackberry sync tool for GMAIL Calendar; http://www.google.com/mobile/blackberry/sync/index.html

A similar contact sync is supposed to come out as the Contact API just got released earlier this year.

A similar contact sync is supposed to come out as the Contact API just got released earlier this year.

I'm glad to hear that this seems to be in the works. It is a gaping hole in the offering for the BB and one that pains me quite a bit to manage.