Funambol, a mobile open source company, has issued the results of its recent survey of 500 people. Funambol’s survey found that the majority of consumers want mobile email. They’re also willing to pay for it, on average about $5 per month.

Previous studies have reported that consumers want mobile email but are not willing to pay much for it. This survey in strongly shows just the opposite. The survey also reveals that many consumers will be making the move to adopt mobile email within the year. Consumers also indicated that they are looking for mobile email that is easy-to-use and that seamlessly interoperates with their web and PC email systems.

The results of the survey are published in a report entitled Beyond Blackberry and Windows Mobile: What Mass Market Consumers Want in Mobile Email. It will also be distributed at Funambol booth # 1177 at CTIA next week.

In its online survey of 500 people, which took place in mid-March, 2007, Funambol analyzed and compared the expectations and requirements of mobile email users versus non-users. Included in this analysis was a look at how important specific capabilities were to both groups and how much consumers were willing pay for mobile email. Key findings from the report include:

- There will be hundreds of millions of new mobile email users in the coming years and they are more likely to be consumers than business users. Almost half of the survey respondents who do not use mobile email said they expect to start using it within a year.

- People use a wide range of mobile devices all over the world and a mobile email solution aimed at the mass market needs to support a broad set of devices. Of the mobile brands used by survey respondents, the second most popular choice was “Other,” meaning other than Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola or BlackBerry (RIM).

- Non-users of mobile email want mobile email that is easy to navigate and read, easy to use and that allows them to reuse email addresses from their web/PC-based email.

- For existing users of mobile email, the main inhibitors to increased usage are functional and technical limitations, and cost. The top reason to consider switching to a different mobile email service was better interoperability with web and PC email.

- There are significant differences between users and non-users of mobile email. These include brand of mobile device, how much they paid for it, how many emails they get or expect to get, how much they are willing to spend on mobile email and their attitude toward technology adoption.

Funambol is a mobile open source company and is the leading provider of open source push email and PIM for consumers. Funambol is supported by a global network of users and developers representing more than 1,000,000 downloads and 10,000 contributors in more than 200 countries.

The commercial version of Funambol’s software has been deployed at wireless operators, 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 www.funambol.com.