Funambol, the mobile open source software company, announced it will pay up to $2,000 to open source community members who develop specific open source connectors and plug-ins that extend the mobile functionality of the community's most desired applications. The Funambol Community Code Sniper Program will focus development efforts on the most desired projects stated by the mobile open source community, broaden interoperability of the Funambol code base and reward developers who do the work.

Funambol's Community Code Sniper Program is the result of an extensive online community survey that determined the features, connectors and plug-ins that are most important to mobile open source developers. Funambol used the survey rankings to prioritize the development and release of components and has published the following "Hit List:"

-- $2000 Skype PIM Plug-in
-- $2000 Gmail PIM Connector
-- $2000 Yahoo! Mail PIM Connector
-- $2000 Open Office PIM Plug-in
-- $1000 AOL IM PIM Plug-in
-- $1000 MSN Messenger PIM Plug-in
-- $1000 Yahoo! Messenger PIM Plug-in
-- $1000 Trillian PIM Plug-in
-- $1000 Apple iSync PIM Plug-in
-- $1000 Jajah PIM Plug-in

"The Funambol community has spoken and we want to both give back by meeting the requests of the community and to reward those who put in the work," said Fabrizio Capobianco, CEO of Funambol. "Being a commercial mobile open source company demands a delicate balance between community and customer. Funambol is always working to maintain and maximize this balance, and the Community Code Sniper Program is an example of this commitment to both."

Developers interested in the Funambol Community Code Sniper Program are asked to choose their targets (pick a project), put out the contract (submit a one-page proposal), plan the hit (develop a detailed spec sheet), execute and deliver, and finally -- check the pulse (30-day community review). To download a "contract," or to learn more about the Program, please visit http://www.funambol.com/opensource/codesniperprogram.html .