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IBM developing mobile services, talking to carriers

International Business Machines Corp (IBM), aiming to capitalize on the popularity of the iPhone and BlackBerry, is developing technology for mobile devices and holding discussions with wireless service providers.

IBM is talking “with virtually every large carrier,” including AT&T Inc, Vodafone Group PLC and France Telecom SA, about Web programs and services, Paul Bloom, head of IBM’s telecommunications research, said in an interview on Monday.

AT&T is the exclusive US carrier for Apple Inc’s iPhone.

The mobile Web can provide a new growth engine for IBM, Bloom said.

Until now, IBM had limited activity in the wireless sector, such as formatting its Lotus software for some smartphones, he said.

“It’s a very different ballgame,” Bloom said.

With people handling more data on their phones, the market is coming into IBM’s “sweet spot,” he said.

While smartphones have been available for years, mobile software and services are still in their infancy, especially in bringing corporate functions to devices, said Andy Miedler, an analyst at Edward Jones in St Louis.

IBM is also focused on emerging markets, where many people bypass personal computers and use phones as the main medium of communication, said Mark Dean, a vice president of research.

“Oftentimes emerging countries will leapfrog established countries in technologies,” Dean said in an interview in Hawthorne, New York. “We thought the PC era was big, the mobile era is going to be just huge.”

IBM has no plans to make its own phone, Dean said.
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