I know Funambol has been my underdog for quite awhile now. They have promised to provide opensource PIM sync to the BlackBerry and they seem to be on the way to delivering it.
I don’t know how many of you are using Funambol but according to their latest press release they just released a new client.
Read the full press release after the jump:
New Funambol Open Source Software Enables BlackBerry for the Mass Market
Provides push email and over-the-air sync of contacts, calendars, tasks and notes for consumer as well as enterprise email and PIM systemsREDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 28 /PRNewswire/ — Funambol, the leading provider of Mobile 2.0 messaging software powered by open source, today introduced a new version of its open source BlackBerry push email and personal information management (PIM) sync software. Funambol’s BlackBerry software consists of two components. The push email component enables BlackBerries to work with consumer email services such as Yahoo! Mail, AOL Mail, Hotmail and Gmail, as well as any POP or IMAP server. The PIM sync component enables BlackBerry users to wirelessly sync PIM data with a Funambol server, which in turn can sync with a wide range of backend email and PIM systems as well as email clients such as Outlook. The free open source Funambol BlackBerry software performs push email and over-the-air (OTA) sync of contacts, calendars, tasks and notes with consumer email systems as well as groupware systems beyond Exchange, Domino and GroupWise that are supported by BlackBerry Enterprise Server.
The PIM sync component was developed in conjunction with the Funambol community. This follows on the heels of other Funambol community projects to support the iPhone and Google Android. Funambol has the largest mobile open source community in the world, enabling Funambol to rapidly support the broadest range of mobile devices for push email and PIM sync.
“Many BlackBerry users access email systems other than Exchange, Domino and GroupWise, but there hasn’t been a way to wirelessly sync their PIM data,” said Fabrizio Capobianco, Funambol CEO. “With our new BlackBerry software, users can easily sync contacts, calendars, tasks and notes over-the-air, and get push email, with a wide variety of email and PIM systems. This innovation is a testament to our mobile open source community, which helped build this software. Mass market BlackBerry users are really going to love it.”
Funambol’s new BlackBerry software is immediately available for newer devices, including the Pearl, Curve, Bold, 87xx and 88xx models. End users can try it on the free myFUNAMBOL portal, at http://my.funambol.com. The software and its source code can also be downloaded from Funambol’s new community forge, at https://www.forge.funambol.org/download/.
Funambol’s new BlackBerry release is accompanied by two additional software enhancements. Funambol has updated its open source Exchange connector to work with Funambol v6.5 and to support Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007. The software is supported by the Funambol community and can be downloaded from the forge. The company is also introducing a new portal API (PAPI) that makes it easy for customers to integrate Funambol Carrier Edition capabilities, such as OTA provisioning and configuration of handsets, into their own portals.
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 two million times by 50,000 developers and project participants 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 CA, Inc. Funambol is headquartered in Redwood City, CA with an R&D center in Italy. See http://www.funambol.com.
