New Funambol Survey: 89% of Mobile Users Report Their Digital Content Is Growing Out-of-Control and Want Secure Personal Cloud Solution

FOSTER CITY, CA--(Marketwire - Jan 31, 2012) - Funambol, the leading provider of white-label personal cloud solutions for mobile phones and devices, today published the results of its "Cloud-based Digital Content" survey. The global survey focused on using digital content on mobile and computing devices and managing cloud-based digital content. The results showed that individuals and households use numerous mobile and computing devices, and many popular apps and services, causing digital content to become widely dispersed.

81% of users reported difficulty in managing, backing up and sharing digital content. This has spurred major interest in personal clouds, as 96% said it was important to wirelessly sync and backup digital content, provided it worked on all their devices and their content was private and secure. Respondents also indicated they are unlikely to use personal clouds that are device-, content- and file-centric, as each has limitations that require the use of multiple clouds, which people want to avoid.

"This research highlights the digital content quagmire that people face every day as they use more mobile devices, apps and services," said Hal Steger, Funambol VP Marketing. "The survey results demonstrate the large market need for personal clouds that secure, sync and share digital content."

Key findings of the report include:

• Individuals and households use 4.3 and 6.6 mobile & computing devices, respectively, 85% of which are made by different manufacturers
• Personal digital content (not already stored on Facebook or other online media sites) consists of approx. 5,000 pictures, videos, songs, files and ebooks; this volume of content is expected to grow by 95% over two years
• Individuals and households typically use 7.5 and 9.9 popular apps and services to access digital content, respectively; streaming of commercial content is now heavily favored over purchasing content
• 89% said their digital content is spreading out more
• 81% said it was becoming more difficult to manage/backup/share digital content
• 78% of individuals wirelessly sync and 64% backup digital content, while only 48% and 42% of other household members do so
• 96% said it was very (60%) or somewhat (36%) important to wirelessly sync & backup their digital content
• 89% expressed interest in an easy, low-cost way to wirelessly sync and backup digital content
• The top three most important attributes in such a service were supports all my devices (75%); private & secure (59%); and low cost (45%)
• 74% would not use a device cloud if it only works with one brand of devices
• 75% would not use a content cloud if mainly to sell more content rather than be easy for user content
  
  

The free report can be downloaded at http://funambol.com/solutions/requestpublication.php with instant website registration.

About Funambol

Funambol is the leading provider of white-label personal cloud solutions for mobile phones and devices. The commercial version of Funambol has been deployed by many of the world's top mobile operators, device makers, internet portals, content providers, software vendors and other companies. For more information, visit http://www.funambol.com.