CompanionLink To Sync Lotus, Palm Desktop, ACT, and others with webOS, Pre! 19

Jay just sent in a tip to this Press Release from CompanionLink and it's great news!  They say that they're going to be offering their software for the webOS / Palm Pre and it will offer a bevvy of syncing options.  Their software will run natively on the Palm Pre and will let you sync "contacts, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, calendar events, tasks, notes, and alarms and reminders" either via USB or Over-the-Air.

What's more, they say they'll offer compatiblity with:

• ACT!
• Google (though this is native on the webOS)
• Palm Desktop (Huzzah!)
• Lotus Notes
• Goldmine
• Microsoft Outlook

Pricing looks to be around $49.95 for their current offerings for other platforms.  This will go a long way towards answering two questions we've received about the Pre -- How will Palm Desktop users get their contacts synced and will there be USB syncing.  It looks like the answer to both is CompanionLink -- just a bummer that it's probably going to be fairly pricey.

There may be another 3rd party syncing solution on the way -- Chapura also makes some pretty good sync software and were highlighted as a partner during the Pre Launch keynote.

One last note -- the webOS development framework must be more robust that some of the naysayers out there have claimed if CompanionLink is able to do USB sync, a feature not built into the Pre, which by default just does USB mass storage mode.

Thanks, Jay!

Update: A user writes in:

You just reported that Companion Link will sync Palm Desktop with Pre BUT this is ONLY on a PC. I - and millions of Palm users - have Mac computers. What do you know about syncing Palm Desktop, contacts, memos, etc between Pre and Mac? Is Pre going to be a PC only device?

Excellent point.  We wouldn't call the Pre a "PC-Only" device, but it is true that we don't know of any Mac-based direct sync solutions -- though it should be noted that the Mac's Address book and iCal are able to sync with Google (in 10.5 at least), which will then sync back to the Pre.