The Google Apps tool that synchronizes the hosted communication and collaboration suite with Outlook now works with the latest version of the Microsoft e-mail desktop software.
Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook can now be used with the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Outlook 2010, Google announced on Monday.
This latest upgrade also lets Outlook users see all data contained in the Apps contacts list, whereas before this was limited to name, e-mail address and one phone number.
Google launched Apps Sync for Outlook in June 2009 for organizations where all or some users prefer to use Outlook as a front end to Gmail, instead of using the Gmail Web interface.
Google has also upgraded the Apps Connector for Blackberry Enterprise Server, it said Monday. The new version, 2.2.307, addresses bugs that hampered the stability of the product, including instances of e-mail synchronization stalling and poor handling of HTTP errors.
Google considers both of these tools as important ones in its continued push to make Apps attractive for large enterprises, where Outlook and BlackBerry use is often widespread.
Apps, a Google-hosted suite that includes e-mail, calendar, IM and office productivity software, is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) alternative to traditional on-premise communication and collaboration platforms like Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint and IBM's Lotus Notes. However, both Microsoft and IBM are busy offering SaaS versions of their respective e-mail and collaboration software.