IBM Invests $100 Million to Make Mark in Mobile World

As mobile phones become more and more like true mini-computers, leaders in the computing business are making greater efforts to make a mark in the mobile industry. The most recent example of this is an announcement from IBM that the company plans to invest $100 million into researching mobile communications technology.

IBM was somewhat vague about the company’s specific plans for development of its mobile offerings although the announcement already has rumors flying about a possible IBM phone entering the market one day. More likely, at least for now, is that IBM plans to develop a range of mobile web programs that can be used by multiple carriers on existing and emerging mobile handsets.

Some of the broad areas of development that IBM has expressed in interest in pursuing with this research money include:

• Mobile payment methods. The market is showing a growing interest in making mobile payments so it makes sense that IBM wants to get in on this part of the business.
• Improved user interface options. The brief mention of this by IBM could be why people think (hope?) that IBM plans on creating its own smartphone in the future.
• Security and privacy issues. Any company that’s looking into mobile development will need to attend to this area of consumer concern.

Although these were three key areas of interest that IBM mentioned, it appears from the announcement that the company’s major focus is on mobile web services for businesses. IBM wants to make its mark in creating services that allow large corporations to improve their interactions with both employees and customers using better mobile phone services. For example, IBM is working with Taiwan Mobile to find ways to use mobile phones to gather information about user transactions and preferences in order to allow the business to evolve accordingly.

Essentially, IBM has realized what many other businesses have realized: people are increasingly likely to access the web via their mobile phone rather than their computers. If the company wants to stay in the game, it needs to be able to offer something to mobile customers. These research efforts are aimed at making that happen.