Google Tightens BlackBerry Integration

Google today rollout out an update to its Google Apps Connector for BlackBerry, raising the limits on the number of users who can simultaneously access the Google services.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) announced the Connector in May and released it in August, but it previously only worked with the BlackBerry Enterprise Server and had a limit of one Google Apps domain and 250 users per server.

With today’s update, Google revved the service to version 1.5, doubling the number of supported users to 500 per server and enabling a single BlackBerry Enterprise Server to support multiple Google App domains.

It also works with BlackBerry Professional Software, which gives BlackBerry devices access to servers running Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Domino. BlackBerry Professional Software supports up to 30 concurrent users.

With the Connector, messages sent to a Gmail account are forwarded to the BlackBerry. Edits to a letter in either Gmail or the BlackBerry are replicated with the other service, and folders and labels are synchronized between Gmail and the BlackBerry.

It’s also possible for data from the Google Calendar schedule to be viewed in the BlackBerry’s native calendar app, but the synchronization is only one-way. When Google launched the Connector in August, it said it was working on two-way synchronization.

In announcing the news, the Google team hinted at more to come with the connector.

“Stay tuned for more announcements from partners offering hosting services for Apps customers with BlackBerry smartphones,” they wrote in a blog post. “In the meantime, we’re going to continue to make it easier for you to manage mobile devices of all types with Google Apps.”