IBM is betting that low-cost, high-bandwidth wireless access and PC-like information processing power are accelerating the promise of the mobile phone as a compelling platform for accessing information services.With mobile phones now outnumbering traditional land-line
telephones, IBM said June 17 it plans to
invest $100 million over the next five years in research relating to advanced
mobile services for businesses and consumers. IBM
said its objective is to bring simple, easy-to-use services to the millions of
people who have bypassed using the personal computer as their primary method of
accessing the Internet.
The three focus areas for IBM's research
investment are mobile enterprises, emerging market mobility and enterprise
end-user mobile experiences. Analytics, security, privacy, user interface and
navigation will be concentrated on across the research effort.
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"Mobile devices are gradually becoming ubiquitous and helping us transcend
many boundariesgeographical, economic and social, among others," Guruduth
Banavar, IBM's global leader of the mobile
communications focus and director of IBM
ResearchIndia,
said in a statement. "With high penetration, simple user interface and
significant cost advantage for end users, mobile telephony holds the future of
communication and exchange of information for the enterprise."
According to IBM's Institute for Business
Value, the number of mobile users will grow by 191 percent from 2006 to 2011 to
approximately 1 billion users. IBM said
low-cost, high-bandwidth wireless access and PC-like information processing
power are accelerating the promise of the mobile phone as a compelling platform
for accessing information services.
"Mobility and the associated analytics will change virtually every
enterprise business process," said Paul Bloom, chief technologist for IBM
Telecom Research. "It will change the relationship between enterprises and
their customers, their employees, and their partners, enabling them to do
business in more intelligent, efficient ways."