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surferboy · Jul 9, 2007, 12:36 PM

OTA sync is critical for the iPhone to be useful in the workforce world. With Over the Air syncing, your assistant, secretary, wife, husband, etc. can manage your calendar, and the calendar pushes to your phone. Having to physically hook up your "smart phone" to you laptop to sync your calendar (which only one person can edit) is like living in the dark ages of the original Palm devices. Please weigh in on this issue.

surferboy · Jul 13, 2007, 04:31 PM

Did I pick a bad title for this thread, or is there really no interest in this feature out there?

icruise · Jul 13, 2007, 04:37 PM

I don't think many people know what OTA Sync means, although you did a good job of explaining it in the body of the thread.

I think the people who might like this the most are also the ones that Apple isn't (apparently) actively targeting at the moment -- business people. But I can see some applications for this for normal users as well. It would be nice to have, certainly.

jokell82 · Jul 13, 2007, 04:45 PM

Meh. I wouldn't oppose adding it, but it's not a feature I would use.

mduell · Jul 13, 2007, 05:09 PM

Even BT syncing would be better than the current USB leash.

icruise · 06:20 PM

Only very marginally. You still have to be right there next your machine.

surferboy · Jul 13, 2007, 06:04 PM

Let me throw this at you: if you have never used a PDA or smartphone that does over-the-air sync, you don't know what you are missing. For me, it is useful, because my assistant keeps my schedule for me. She enters the information on her computer, and it appears on my phone (on my pre-iphone phone) like magic. I can be in Timbuktu and it still works. Once you experience how useful (almost essentially useful) it is, I don't think you'd go back.

Even if you keep your own calendar, it would be useful to be able to enter data on a computer that you use at work, without having to tie your phone to the computer. In particular, this would be useful if you work in a PC-centric environment.

Again, for business and industry, this feature is a must, in my opinion.

Big-C · Jul 13, 2007, 06:46 PM

I totally agree with surferboy. Once you've had an OTA sync enabled phone, it's just painful to go back to having to manually sync. Yuck.

By adding this feature, I think that it would make a lot of users who don't know about it very happy, and give Apple tons o' kudo's for inventing it.

I have found having to go back to a manual sync such a PITA that I've started to just keep my calendar directly on my iPhone and have stopped bothering with iCal. I don't know what trouble that will get me into in the future, but that's how I'm dealing with it now. It's been fine so far, mostly because I just love using my iPhone.

mduell · Jul 13, 2007, 07:31 PM

Originally Posted by icruise

Only very marginally. You still have to be right there next your machine.

As long as you're in the same room the 30ft range of BT should work fine.

If the iPhone had a USB port it wouldn't be so bad, but it requires a proprietary cable that has only one use. When you're on the road or otherwise away from your desk, you always have to remember to bring the cable with you or you can't sync at all.

frdmfghtr · Jul 13, 2007, 11:09 PM

Originally Posted by Big-C

I totally agree with surferboy. Once you've had an OTA sync enabled phone, it's just painful to go back to having to manually sync. Yuck.

By adding this feature, I think that it would make a lot of users who don't know about it very happy, and give Apple tons o' kudo's for inventing it.

I have found having to go back to a manual sync such a PITA that I've started to just keep my calendar directly on my iPhone and have stopped bothering with iCal. I don't know what trouble that will get me into in the future, but that's how I'm dealing with it now. It's been fine so far, mostly because I just love using my iPhone.

I never really thought about OTA syncing, but that seems to be a logical step in the evolution of the iPhone...OTA syncing with .Mac. If I could keep my iPhone synced through the .Mac service, I'd actually consider a subscription.

Somewhat off-topic...why did Apple go with Yahoo for push email? If anything, I'd have expected .Mac mail to be push email.

surferboy · Jul 29, 2007, 12:52 PM

My vague understanding is that Leopard will allow for some type of calendar sharing in a collaborative environment. But, it seems that this will be a feature of Leopard server? Does anyone know if these features will also be possible with standard Leopard? If not, does this mean that in order to take advantage of the new iCal features, one has to buy a server and run Leopard server on it?

cmoney · Jul 29, 2007, 01:27 PM

Eh, I've had it on previous phones but without an assistant of my own, I don't see the point. Not opposed to it since I can see how it would help those with admins, but until my firm switches to iPhones (ha yeah right) it's not much use to me.

And since someone mentioned it, I'd like Bluetooth sync if there were a way to have it automatically sync when it senses you're within Bluetooth range. Except it would have to be limited to PIM-type info, I wouldn't wanna bother with syncing songs/videos over BT.

surferboy · Aug 25, 2007, 04:54 AM

This Sitedoes a nice job explaining the concept of calendar servers and shared calendar standards, but I still do not totally grasp what is in store with Leopard. Will one have to own Leopard server to take advantage if iCal shared calendars? And, will Leopard server have to run on server hardware?

Who can clarify these issues?

Fusion · Sep 9, 2007, 01:02 AM

Sorry to dig up the thread but I found this via google. I too would love .mac OTA sync. I had this on my BlackBerry and it was wonderful. It's the same idea as IMAP with mail.app and mobilemail.app, It's just so nice to exchange information and keep both devices (iPhone and Mac) up to date and synced with each other without worrying about cables, etc...

CorpITGuy · Sep 9, 2007, 05:25 PM

Although I would prefer to have OTA sync be with Exchange, (that's what I used on my Blackjack and Treo 750) I'd be okay with .mac sync, since I understand Apple would like to sell more of their own product rather than helping MS sell theirs.

surferboy · Sep 9, 2007, 05:33 PM

I have been reading about the next version of iCal. It looks like it will support collaborative calendars with permissions to allow for multi-user editing. But, it's all fuzzy to me right now if this will require server hardware and/or software. The ability to maintain a collaborative calendar coupled with over the air sync would mac the iPhone, and by default macosx a shoe-in for the business environment!

ph0ust · Sep 10, 2007, 03:01 PM

this would be really, really helpful and convenient. i maintain my own calendar and have to sync many times a day in order to keep my phone up to date. while plugging in works fine as well, it only works at all if you plug in your phone to sync! i add/delete/modify my calendar maybe 10 times a day with meetings, etc. i don't ever even think about syncing my phone that often. honestly, i think about it a few times a week and thus my phone is most often not up to date.

surferboy · Sep 10, 2007, 04:14 PM

Are ya listening, Steve??? I have spoken with dozens of people who have not bought the iPhone because of this issue. Make it happen, and they will come....

iomatic · Sep 10, 2007, 05:39 PM

Yup. Asked about this months ago (a few days before your poll) and that's the only thing holding me back.

wkrp28 · Sep 20, 2007, 03:57 PM

For my usage style, OTA syncing and true push email are the major missing features of the iPhone. I'm used to having live OTA syncing it's very hard to go back - especially if your calendar is being updated by others. I'm hoping it's just a matter of time.

jokell82 · Sep 20, 2007, 04:02 PM

Originally Posted by wkrp28

For my usage style, OTA syncing and true push email are the major missing features of the iPhone. I'm used to having live OTA syncing it's very hard to go back - especially if your calendar is being updated by others. I'm hoping it's just a matter of time.

It has push email. Kind of.

surferboy · Sep 20, 2007, 04:19 PM

I have spoken with countless people who have not bought the phone because of the lack of OTA sync and lack of Microsoft Server compatibility. People are salivating at the phone, but cannot pull the trigger because of this issue.

If a million have sold to MacHeads and iPod lovers, imagine how many millions will sell when the phone supports this. Seems like there would be some way to leverage .mac technology to aid with calendar syncs. Heck, create a .mac version for the windows and bring the masses!

Steve? You hear us???

analogue SPRINKLES · Sep 20, 2007, 04:20 PM

It sounds cool but considering most of what I sync on my iPhone is video's and music it wouldn't help me much.

I don't have anyone managing my calendar other than myself.

surferboy · Oct 16, 2007, 03:44 PM

OK, I need to wake this thread back up and get some help- perhaps from a Leopard Beta tester. The status of Leopard Calendar is unclear to me. It appears that Leopard Server will allow for collaborative calandering, but what about Leopard? Can my wife and/or assistant and I all collaborate on a single calendar? This is a different issue than OTA sync- which by the way is a must. I would be very disappointed if Apple is crippling this capability in order to release some new PDA in the future.

Any thoughts?

surferboy · Oct 17, 2007, 11:51 AM

There is a great iCal review Here, but I still have some questions about iCal and Leopard.

stevvot · Oct 17, 2007, 05:45 PM

4 things required before my company of 45 phones will switch to iPhones (which we all want badly):

1. Allow iPhones on corporate accounts.
2. Allow 3rd party apps (coming in Feb.)
3. Do OTA sync with Leopard server (which we'll install next month). For consumers, allow OTA sync with .Mac.
4. Allow iPhone to be used as a data modem for laptops. We currently have our Sprint phones hacked to allow this to give us Internet/email access on our laptops in a pinch.

surferboy · Oct 23, 2007, 08:53 PM

This has nothing to do with OTA sync, but This is a huge step in the right direction for shared calendars!