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Apr. 21, 2008

Continuing on the promise it made in February, IBM has just announced a new mobile Internet initiative.

IBM's new research program will focus on bringing simple, easy-to-use mobile Web services to users whose main Web browsing device is the mobile phone, not the personal computer.

“The universe is entering the Era of the Mobile Internet, it said. In many countries, the mobile phone has become an electronic wallet, the window to the World Wide Web and a practical education device.

Dr. Daniel Dias, head of IBM’s research lab in India said "today, mobile devices outnumber PCs, credit cards and TVs.”

"IBM is launching projects that will make a mobile device even easier to use than the PC, allowing you to do everything you can with a PC and even a lot more," added Dias.

IBM's new Indian research lab will lead the mobile Internet projects, and work also will be done in eight other IBM labs in six other countries.

Specific projects include: voice-enabled mobile eCommerce, instant translation applications, mobile computing applications, specialized mobile social networking and mobile health care information-sharing applications.

IBM added that its Indian research facility will serve as the company’s hub for delivering new mobile Web solutions to emerging markets everywhere around the world.

IBM's Institute for Business Value further predicts the number of mobile Web users will grow by 191 percent from 2006 to 2011, reaching over one billion users.

“The increase in globalization is shifting the way business works," said John Kelly, senior v.p. of IBM Research, in the statement. “Business leaders need to anticipate how these changes will affect their ways of operating and look to new technological innovations to help them succeed in this new landscape.”

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Source: International Business Machines.