Funambol (News - Alert), a provider of Mobile 2.0 messaging software powered by open source, and Smaato, a pioneering provider of mobile advertising platform technology, has announced that they are forming a partnership and have integrated their solutions.

 

This joint solution provides mobile operators, service providers and online portals with an ad-funded open source push e-mail solution that is designed to enable them to generate revenue by providing free push e-mail and PIM synchronization for billions of users.

 

The combination of mobile advertising and open source software is the only practical approach to putting mobile e-mail into the hands of billions of mobile users. Open source enables mobile e-mail to work on billions of mobile handsets.

At the same time, an ad-funded model enables mobile e-mail to be provided for free, while generating significant revenue for those throughout the mobile value chain.

 

To demonstrate how mobile ads can be delivered non-intrusively and without spam, Funambol and Smaato are ad-enabling the myFUNAMBOL portal. This portal is designed to offer free mobile e-mail.

 

The companies will demonstrate the solution at CTIA Wireless (News - Alert) in Las Vegas , April 1-3, 2008, at Funambol’s booth # 3800.

 

“Mobile advertising is receiving a lot of attention because it can enable mobile content such as email to be provided to billions of mobile users for free,” said Fabrizio Capobianco, CEO of Funambol, in a Tuesday statement.

 

“The combination of open source and mobile advertising, as embodied by our partnership with Smaato, will accelerate the transformation from paid to free mobile email for users around the world.”

 

“Email is the ultimate killer app for mobile, but a major obstacle has been cost,” said Ragnar Kruse, CEO of Smaato, in Tuesday’s statement.

 

“We are excited to partner with Funambol as our combined offering provides a compelling way for mobile operators, service providers and portals to monetize their huge user bases that want mobile email but don't want to pay for it.”

Funambol’s partnership with Smaato is positioned as an expansion of Funambol’s strategy to provide free e-mail to billions of mobile users. At Mobile World Congress (News - Alert) in February, Funambol announced its first mobile ad partnership, and the company plans additional partnerships soon.

The demand for mobile e-mail solutions is rapidly growing and in order to remain competitive, mobile service providers must be able to offer such solutions to their clients, or risk significant customer churn. When this e-mail capability is combined with mobile advertisers to make mobile e-mail available for free, consumers are offered the best of both worlds.

 

Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC (News - Alert) and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.