Funambol and OpenMoko Partner to Make World's First Integrated Open Source Mobile Communications Platform a Reality

November 12 2006

Funambol, the mobile open source software company, today announced it has been chosen to power mobile applications for OpenMoko, the world's first integrated open mobile communications platform. Funambol is the recognized leading open source mobile software for delivering mobile applications and services such as mobile email.

The announcement of the OpenMoko mobile communications platform coincides with the unveiling of FIC's Neo1973 smartphone, which utilizes the full OpenMoko platform. OpenMoko aims to deliver a completely open, mobile communications platform by working with a community of open source developers. The project will give mobile developers a fully open source software stack from the operating system to middleware, applications and protocols. Users will get a high quality smartphone that they can easily customize by installing only the applications they desire, eliminating the need to upgrade their device every 12-18 months.

"The largest mobile open source project in the world has just joined with the largest open design manufacturer in the world to deliver on the promise of a fully open mobile phone for the mass market. We're looking forward to working with OpenMoko and the folks from FIC on this trailblazing project," said Fabrizio Capobianco, CEO of Funambol. "The time for high quality open smartphones to deliver user-demanded applications is upon us. FIC's Neo1973 will accelerate opportunities for carriers to increase profits by effectively delivering on consumer demand for mobile applications and services on mobile handsets."

The Funambol software will allow OpenMoko-based phones to wirelessly synchronize mobile applications and content, starting with PIM (contacts, calendars, etc.) and push email delivery, to synchronization of photos, video, ringtones, music and more. Funambol is based on the open standard SyncML and provides a platform that delivers mobile applications and data regardless of operating system or development environment.

"For the first time, the mobile ecosystem will be as open as the PC, and mobile applications equally as diverse and more easily accessible," said Sean Moss-Pultz, initiator of OpenMoko and Product Manager of FIC's Mobile Communication Business Unit. "Ringtones are already a multi-billion dollar market. We think downloading mobile applications on an open platform will be even bigger."

"With any mobile phone, the application platform is critical because it directly impacts its quality, cost and ease-of-use. We chose Funambol because it is the most widely used mobile open source project in the world," said David Huang, COO of FIC. "By partnering with Funambol to provide the synchronization engine for OpenMoko, developers will flock to the project and ultimately, users will receive what they have been demanding from their mobile phones."

Since Funambol's preview release earlier this year, the number of Funambol software downloads has more than doubled to 700,000, reflecting pent-up demand for mass market mobile applications. The open source software is being downloaded by a burgeoning community of developers who are testing it on a wide range of mobile devices all over the world. Mobile operators around the world are deploying the Funambol Carrier Edition in their networks. It is the natural application platform for OpenMoko since it helps carriers reach the largely untapped market for consumer push email.

About Funambol

Funambol is the mobile open source company. Funambol's Mobile Application Server offers "push" email, multimaster PIM synchronization, and management facilities for mobile devices. Funambol (formerly known as Sync4j) is an open source development platform for mobile applications that has been downloaded more than any other wireless middleware product -- more than 700,000 times. The commercial version has been deployed at wireless carriers, Fortune 100 enterprises, hardware OEMs/ODMs and ISVs including customers such as Computer Associates. Funambol is headquartered in Redwood City, California with a development center in Italy. See http://www.funambol.com.

Editorial Contacts

Jennifer Cloer Mike Maney

Page One PR for Funambol Page One PR for Funambol

503-547-9451 215-345-7096

jennifer@pageonepr.com mike@pageonepr.com.