GooSync's Blog

A few people have asked us what our future plans are for both GooSync and the rest of our business…

As you are well aware, we have been providing GooSync now for over 3 years and have gained a lot of loyal customers during this time.  Our innovation has allowed us to continually develop GooSync from a simple Beta idea to a fully pledged, feature rich Synchronization service allowing us to capture a niche market in the process.

We released the last update to GooSync back in October.  This update was well received and was the first phase of 4 planned releases over the next 18 months.  As our customer base grows this allows us to continue to develop new features for GooSync which is exactly what we are doing.  Google may have many sync features native to their Android OS based devices but this still leaves little support for none Google devices (Nokia, Sony-Ericsson, Samsung Etc) which are left with many Syncing limitations, therefore allowing us to gain customers who fall into that category.

As of yet, Google have not released their Tasks API so we cannot fully integrate GooSync with Google task manager but we do offer our own task manager which is available for all Premium members.  As soon as Google do release the API we will prioritise the development of this into GooSync.

Unlike Google, we offer priority first class support with our products allowing our users to contact a human directly and get help with any problems they might encounter; this again is a huge USP for GooSync as Google do not currently provide this type of service with their Synchronization product.

To conclude this point, we have a comprehensive product roadmap for GooSync which details new features suggested by our user base and internal staff, we haven’t published this roadmap because factors change and we constantly have to adapt, re-schedule and prioritise developments, software development is a fluid environment as I’m sure you will appreciate.

As far as the future of our business is concerned we are working around the clock on new products that complement and integrate with GooSync.  Our latest offering, AddressBookONE is currently due for release this quarter as a Beta.  Here is a quick overview from our internal literature

“AddressBookONE is a contact cloud-based service bringing together the people in your day-to-day life all in one place…

Technology solves many problems but can sometimes create others in the process.  In today’s environment we have contact with many friends, business, personal & family… Accessing all this information can sometimes be a daunting task.  We have a mixture of people in our phones and PDA’s, friends on social networking sites, friends we chat to via instant messaging and our business contacts in our mail clients; demonstrating how spread out our information really is.

AddressBookONE attempts to solve this problem using a single point of contact, which amalgamates this scattered information into one, easy to use, simple interface.”

We hope this gives you an idea of what we have coming up.  AddressBookONE also integrates with Gmail – using Goosync, Exchange, Outlook, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Facebook, Plaxo etc and our valued customer base will be able to get a sneak preview when we have our Beta ready.  You can register for our Beta testing program now by visiting www.addressbookone.com.

We have also been working on some great collaborations over the last few months including MotionApps with Classic, A great new tool for Explorers & Travelers and soon to be announced a product that directly integrates with network carriers providing the user with some amazing features directly accessible from your handset.

We hope we have addressed any concerns you might have but if we’ve missed anything then please let us know, we are always here to help and support our customers.

The GooSync Team.

Our 2010 calendar is now available! Click the image below to download it.

This cartoon was inked by Howard Tayler for our Calendar, and placed here for your amusement.

Classic from MotionApps, the Palm OS emulator for the new Web OS, will now include the GooSync Palm OS client as standard, providing the best over-the-air synchronization solution for Google calendars, contacts and tasks.

With the successful release of the Palm Pre supporting the new Web OS, there was only one thing missing, all of the vital Palm OS applications people have grown to love and rely on. Classic is a Palm OS emulator that runs on the Web OS, allowing you to run all Palm OS applications, now including GooSync.

GooSync ties in with original Palm OS personal management applications that are a component of the classic emulator from MotionApps, extending Google calendar to the new Palm Pre. GooSync is designed to deliver a seamless service, regardless of whether someone chooses the basic, Lite option or the Premium account’s extended features.

“It’s great news for users of Classic, being able to Sync with Google straight out of the box is an invaluable business service,” says Chris Jukes, CEO of Toffa and GooSync. “So while GooSync’s Lite service enables you to sync the default Google Calendar, the Premium service lets you sync multiple calendars up to 365 days in advance, contacts directly with Gmail, and tasks to the GooSync inbuilt tasks application. Autosync and multiple device support are just some of the numerous features supported through GooSync.” Also included are GooSync’s new features from the latest release, version 2.1, such as Google contact group synchronization.

Setting up a GooSync account is easy through the official GooSync website: http://www.goosync.com/. GooSync works on any device that is SyncML compliant, including the most recent Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorola phones. It is also compatible with Windows Pocket PC, Windows SmartPhone, Palm OS, Treo, BlackBerry and Apple iPhone by installing a SyncML client.

“A secure, hassle-free experience is key to the success of GooSync, plus the fact that it’s applicable to everyone, from the casual user to power user,” Jukes says. “With the service based on the SyncML data protocol, most phones will have no problem running either the Lite or Premium service.”

GooSync’s website provides a list of all supported phones, plus details on both the Lite and Premium services. For more information, go to http://www.goosync.com/.

For more information on MotionApps or to Download Classic visit http://www.motionapps.com/

About Toffa International

For 13 years, Toffa has been a leading developer of synchronization software for mobile devices. Its GooSync, released in February 2007, is now the market leader for Google synchronization. Toffa is a proud partner of Novell®, which certified Toffa’s SyncWise and SyncWisePro under its respected YES, Tested and Approved program. Toffa’s software provides comprehensive synchronization facilities between Novell® GroupWise® and any Palm OS® connected organizers. Products now in the design stage at Toffa include further iPhone and Android applications.

Despite the company’s quick, steady growth, Toffa continually provides highly personal, direct service to customers, representing countless sectors and industries but sharing the common need for efficient, reliable communications. To learn more about Toffa International, visit http://www.toffa.com.

Contact:

Jay Lloyd
Marketing Executive
Toffa International/GooSync
T: +44 1902 650025
sales@toffa.com
Twitter: @goosync
Skype: jaylloyd
http://blog.goosync.com

Goosync v2.1 – Released

Fresh from the Goosync development team is GooSync v2.1.
We have continued to invest in the development of GooSync and added new features based on user feedback ensuring that GooSync stays the best-of-breed sync product on the market.
The latest release of GooSync contains several new features and changes that make syncing easier and more flexible.

Google Contact Groups:
GooSync now has the ability to sync contact groups from within Google.  Multiple groups can be synced and groups can be omitted from the sync process allowing full flexibility as to what contact information is synced with your device.
Google’s ‘Unfiled’ group can be ignored when syncing so as not to copy unnecessary contact information to your device.
The new Group Sync feature can be found in the GooSync control panel under “Sync by Categories”

Google Tasks:
The GooSync task list that is displayed in the GooSync control panel is now printer friendly with a new style sheet and a print button.
The task-list search box now has an auto-search feature similar to the contact search.
Tasks can now be imported and exported as VCard files (i.e. backed-up/restored).  This can be found by clicking ‘import’ or ‘export’ above your tasks list.

For GooSync Contacts and Tasks:
Tasks and Contacts lists now display the category for each item.
The Tasks and Contacts igoogle gadgets now display notes.

The Goosync Control Panel:
If you have multiple devices, you can now rename each device to make it easier to distinguish them from each other. Just click ‘rename’ next to your device.GooSync version 2.1

Since the first release of GooSync back in early 2007 GooSync has gone from strength to strength.

Both the Premium and Free versions of GooSync have become market leaders in the over-the-air synchronization market.

We have shown our continued commitment to our users over the years with a new infrastructure, further product development and enhanced support services.

We are also now happy to report that version 2.1 is now ready for release. Features from this new version will soon be rolled into the Premium version of GooSync. We also have 3 further updates planned for release over the next 9 months.

It has always been our goal to provide a professional service to all Free and Premium users. Given the exponential demand for GooSync over the last 12 months, it has become increasingly more difficult to continue this high level of service to both Premium and Free users.

It is therefore, with regret, that we are now discontinuing our Free service. For all of you that have come to love and rely on our free offering, we will be migrating the Free GooSync service into a new product “GooSync Lite”.  This new lite version of GooSync will have all the same features as the existing free version.

The Free version will become unavailable and synchronization will be suspended on Monday 19th October. To continue benefiting from all the great features of GooSync you will be able to purchase GooSync Lite for a yearly fee of just £5.99 (approx $10). We are confident that this is priced very competitively and will allow us to continue to offer the professional level of service and support you have come to expect.

Alternatively you can upgrade to our GooSync Premium service. This allows full contact syncing with contact backup, multiple Google calendars with appointments up to 365 days in advance, appointment attendees, task synchronization, multiple device support, AutoSync and iGoogle gadgets. Also included will be GooSync’s new features from version 2.1, such as Google contact group synchronization.

GooSync Premium is available for as little as £19.95 per year, £29.95 for a two year subscription or a lifetime option for £39.95.

We hope you continue to use GooSync and we look forward to working with you in the future.

Thanks,

The GooSync Team.

This cartoon was inked by Howard Tayler for our Calendar, and placed here for your amusement.

Performance Dates: Monday 28 September – Saturday 3 October

Andrew Dunn, Shobna Gulati and Sue Devaney return to their original roles for a new stage version of Victoria Wood’s hit BBC sitcom dinnerladies. The show, which initially ran for two series, 16 episodes in total, has been voted 9^th in the all-time list of favourite sitcoms.

I went to see this last night at the  Wolverhampton Grand Theatre

The stage play, produced by Jan Hunt and David Graham, is based on the second TV series and follows the reluctant love story of Bren and Tony egged on by their work colleagues, Dolly, Jean, Twinkle and Anita.  Making frequent appearances are caretaker Stan, Phillippa from Human Resources, Secretary Jane and Bren’s truly dreadful mother, Petula, played originally by Julie Walters.

Although one audience member remained asleep throughout my wife and I fully enjoyed it.

Go see it

Chris.

Head of sales, Jay, and his wife Nicola have become proud parents of Isla born 12:46, Monday Sept 21st, weighing 7lb 9oz, a little sister for Mia.

Well done Jay & Nicola!

This cartoon was inked by Howard Tayler for our Calendar, and placed here for your amusement.