Funambol today announced the availability of its new free Funambol plug-in for the iPhone. The Funambol plug-in enables users to easily and freely sync their address book from an older phone to an iPhone 3G over-the-air. It also enables users of the iPhone 3G (as well as original iPhones and iPod Touches that have been upgraded to 2.0) to wirelessly back up their contacts for free, and to easily keep their contacts in sync with popular webmail systems, and email clients such as Outlook and Thunderbird. The free plug-in, which was listed as a top 20 cool third party app for the iPhone 3G by IDG News Service, can be immediately downloaded from the Apple App Store, from its Productivity section.
Market trends are converging to create a major opportunity for service providers and mobile operators - mobile email for the mass market. To seize this opportunity, service providers can deploy a solution that is based on open source for the broadest device compatibility, and supported by advertising to foster adoption among cost-conscious users. This is the key message in a new white paper released by Funambol, Inc., the leading provider of Mobile 2.0 messaging software powered by open source.
Perhaps no segment in mobile data remains as untapped as wireless e-mail... But the industry has had trouble addressing the needs of low-end professionals and consumers who largely appear unwilling to spend even a modest sum to get on-the-go e-mail. So a handful of messaging providers -- like so many other players in mobile -- are looking to advertising to foot the bill... They're all vying for a piece of an ad-supported mobile messaging space that will explode from a $1.5B industry in 2006 to generate $12B by 2011.
Funambol today announced that it has secured $12.5 million in Series B funding, led by mobile-focused venture capital firm Nexit Ventures. Castile Ventures participated as a new investor and was joined by existing investors, Walden International and HIG Ventures. The new financing brings Funambol's total funding to $25 million. The company will use the proceeds for continued growth in the push email market, to advance product R&D and to accelerate global expansion, particularly in Europe and Asia.
Funambol today announced that it has launched a new open source forge as a central collaboration site for mobile open source developers around the world. At the new Funambol Forge, developers and other community members can work on mobile projects, share technical tips, and download software and documentation. The new forge houses source and binary code for the open source Funambol Community Edition and many Funambol-based community projects.
Funambol today announced that the AGPLv3 has received formal approval by the Open Source Initiative (OSI). Funambol led the process of the license's approval by the OSI after adopting AGPLv3 in November. It was the first company to adopt the license, which closes the "ASP loophole".
Funambol today announced the availability of an important new white paper detailing the opportunity for mobile operators and service providers to turn mobile email for consumers into significant new revenue. The free white paper, Open Source Push Email & PIM for the Consumer Market, is immediately available.
