Yes. I have been using Google Apps for my business, my wife's business and my homeowner's association for years. We don't use it for websites, but I point the MX records to google for email and other services.
Google just changed the free Google Apps so it is limited to 10 email accounts, it used to be 50.
If you need less than 10 email accounts, sign up here.
Google Apps helps groups build communities – Google Apps
Syncing with Outlook can be painless. Just set up Outlook to connect to the server as a MAPI client. That way, any changes made from any client (Outlook, web client, smartphone) will synch.
On your Blackberry, just use the Gmail app. It now supports Google Apps hosted email.