Can I use a different email/calendar/address book provider for Mac OS X and iOS? I am afraid that the switch to iCloud will make life very complicated, particularly for Snow Leopard users like myself. I am also afraid that Apple will make life generally more complicated.

So I am wondering if I can theoretically switch to another provide for synced email configurations, address book data and calendars.

I don't mind paying for those services, I just need my address book, emails and calendars to be the same between my devices, ideally between Mac OS X and iOS and everything else (Linux, Windows, Solaris etc.).

Any ideas?
Googles Services

iOS


(Push) Email using the IMAP protocol


Push is not default. You have to set it up manually.

bi-directional contacts sync (Exchange supported)


If you do not sync contacts using the exchange protocol, you only sync via iTunes.

bi-directional calendars sync


I don't have good experiences with the bi-directional sync using the iOS calendar app. Luckily, there are plenty of third-party apps available which offer a tight integration of Google Calender. CCal has been quite an enhancement to my Google experience.



OSX

iCal, Address Book and Mail allow to integrate sync with Google's services in Preferences &#x2192; Accounts.

Google Services on other platforms

Google's Services are more widely available than anything else I know. It allows to keep contacts/calendars/email in sync on OSX, iOS, Android and Linux. In Ubuntu I use Google's Services in Thunderbird and Google Calendar/Contacts extensions.