Funambol, provider of open source push e-mail and mobile sync for the mass market, today announced it has added mobile ads to the myFunambol portal.

The result, according to the company, is the first live proving ground for understanding how mass market users accept and respond to a free open source MobileWe service that is funded by mobile advertising.

myFunambol is an online portal that provides mass market users with free mobile e-mail and sync for contacts, calendars, tasks, notes and other content with popular desktop clients such as Outlook and Webmail services such as Yahoo!, Gmail and AOL, on 1.5 billion devices. Introduced in July 2007, the portal provides over-the-air mobile contacts sync apps for the iPhone and the Google Android G1 phone.

The Funambol open source ad-funded solution displays micro-banner ads in several areas of its mobile e-mail client, such as the inbox, message view and message send screens. Ad calls to action include launching a browser to visit a mobile Website, calling a phone number or sending an SMS for more info. Targeting options include age, gender, time-of-day and location.

Funambol’s mobile advertising partners include Amobee and Smaato, among other mobile ad providers and networks. Ads initially are on some Nokia Series 60 devices, with support for more phones to be added.