BlackBerry Gets Sync Support From Funambol

Funambol has rolled out an improved version of its open source e-mail and mobile synchronization software that improves support for a number of mobile phones, including versions 4.5 and 4.6 of the BlackBerry operating system.

Besides the new support for the BlackBerry, version 7.1 of MobileWe also contains a new Symbian client for synchronizing data contained on personal information management devices, including those made by Nokia and the Samsung Symbian Series 60.

Among the new features and dozens of improvements to existing capabilities, version 7.1 offers support for iCalendar, along with significant speed and performance improvements.

"We see version 7.1 as the culmination of a lot of hard work by our people and the open source community," Funambol CEO Fabrizio Capobianco said. "I think it accurately reflects our focus on supporting the largest variety of smartphones, sync sources, and standards."

In concert with the new release, the company has recently demonstrated version 8 of MobileWe, which has a shiny new Ajax Web portal.

The portal will be used for synchronizing a range of PIM-based data, e-mail, multimedia content, cloud-related functions, Webmail services, and desktop applications. Version 8 is scheduled to be shipped sometime during this year's second quarter.

"As more users bring in mobile devices from the outside for work-related things and are finding new ways to use them, it is going to be important to have some flexibility in syncing up all kinds of data they need out in the field,” said Dave Garvin, an IT administrator with a large manufacturing company in Boston.

Funambol also hopes that by offering a variety of methods to synchronize a range of mobile content, service providers and device manufacturers will have more options for making sales.

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