REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Feb. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Funambol, the leading provider of Mobile 2.0 messaging software powered by open source, and Amobee Media Systems, the world leader in advertising solutions for mobile operators, today announced a partnership to enable operators and service providers to generate significant revenue from mobile email for the mass market.
The ad-based mobile email solution will shift content subsidization from mobile users to advertisers. It reflects the growing influence of mobile users, which is an increasing trend in 2008. It will help operators and services providers realize a significant portion of the $5 billion to $11 billion that analysts predict will be spent annually on mobile advertising within five years.
Funambol will demonstrate the integrated solution at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, February 11-14, 2008, stand 1J46 in Hall 1.
"Mobile email is the ultimate killer app for mobile, and with an ad-supported model, people around the world can now more cost-effectively access consumer and work email, contacts and calendars on their mobile devices," said Fabrizio Capobianco, CEO of Funambol. "We are excited to work with Amobee as our mobile advertising partner because Amobee has developed the most advanced advertising solution for mobile operators. Both companies share a vision of delivering carrier-grade solutions for the mass market at a price point that drives adoption and increases revenue throughout the mobile ecosystem."
The Funambol/Amobee solution integrates Amobee's Handset Application Programming Interface (HAPI) with Funambol's Java ME (JAM) push email client. This enables ads from media agencies that participate in the Amobee Network of Media Partners to be displayed and acted upon by users of the hundreds of millions of handsets supported by the Funambol JAM client. The Amobee Media Network ensures that the ads and brands displayed in users' mobile email adhere to the editorial control and production standards of operators and service providers that deploy the solution.
"Research indicates that many more people would use mobile email if it were more affordable and it worked on their existing phones. The Amobee Funambol solution accomplishes just that," said Zohar Levkovitz, CEO of Amobee Media Systems. "We are excited to work with Funambol as their solution is gaining major traction with mobile operators and service providers around the world. The combination of Amobee and Funambol represents the first to market end-to-end telco grade ad-based open source mobile email solution for the mass market."
3.3 billion people own mobile phones today. There are more than two billion email accounts in the world but less than two percent of people access email on their mobile phone. This represents an untapped revenue opportunity for operators, service providers and advertisers. Until now, mobile email has required specialized devices, costly fees and complex setup.
Funambol is the leading provider of open source mobile email and PIM (contacts, calendar, tasks and notes) sync for the mass market and automates easy over-the-air (OTA) provisioning of users at a much lower cost than proprietary alternatives. With the combined solution, mobile email can now be delivered to the mass market at an even more affordable price point. Amobee's first to market, end-to-end telco grade mobile ad solution supports the full spectrum of mobile deployment services, including SMS, WAP and Java ME apps, for games, entertainment, email, and more.
About Amobee Media Systems
Amobee is the only media system capable of dynamically inserting targeted, interactive advertisements into all types of mobile entertainment and communication channels, including videos, music, messaging, games, WAP etc., using a single, telco-grade ad-serving infrastructure. Headquartered in Redwood City, CA, the company enjoys financial backing from some of the biggest names in venture capital and two of the largest mobile operators in the world: Accel Partners (http://www.accel.com [1]), Sequoia Capital (http://www.sequoiacap.com [2]), Globespan (http://www.globespancapital.com [3]), Telefonica (http://www.telefonica.com [4]) and Vodafone (http://www.vodafone.com [5]). In addition to its San Francisco headquarters, Amobee maintains a commercial office in London with engineering in Herzliya, Israel.
About Funambol
Funambol provides mobile 2.0 messaging software powered by open source. The company is the leading provider of open source push email and PIM sync solutions for the mass market. Funambol open source has been downloaded more than 1,500,000 times by 10,000 developers in 200 countries. The commercial version of Funambol has been deployed at service providers, mobile operators, portals, device manufacturers and ISVs including customers such as 1&1, Earthlink and Computer Associates. Funambol is headquartered in Redwood City, CA with an R&D center in Italy. See http://www.funambol.com [6].
Media Contact Shelly Milam for Funambol Page One PR (415) 875-7491 shelly@pageonepr.com
SOURCE Funambol
Links:
[1] http://www.accel.com/
[2] http://www.sequoiacap.com/
[3] http://www.globespancapital.com/
[4] http://www.telefonica.com/
[5] http://www.vodafone.com/
[6] http://www.funambol.com/