Let me start by saying this: If you are in the market for a new mobile phone and ask me which will best suit your needs, my answer will be an iPhone. Every day, for everybody, the answer is “iPhone”.

But I understand that some of you need to use, or even prefer, a Blackberry, and your main concern is how to sync and manage that device on your Mac. Until now, the solution has been software called The Missing Sync for Blackberry from Mark/Space, and while I still recommend that (especially over the PocketMac software that came with the Blackberry), it costs $40.

Now, Blackberry has released their free Blackberry Desktop Software that is supposed to let Mac users synchronize with their Address Book and iCal, and backup their Blackberries. It will also let you manage your Blackberry applications.

What you still can’t do with either software is synchronize over the air as you can with an iPhone coupled with a MobileMe account.

As an iPhone user, I have no way of testing this software to see if it lives up to its claims so my suggestion is, if you already have The Missing Sync, stick with that. If you use Mac OS X 10.4 or older, get The Missing Sync as the new Blackberry software requires 10.5.5 or better. If you have Leopard and aren’t syncing now, or are trying to use the PocketMac software that came with your device, try the new app instead. If it fails to meet your expectations, or is missing some features that you’d like, take a look at The Missing Sync.

[Written by Kem Tekinay]