IBM revealing strategy for mobile computing with smartphones and looking to announce services and partnerships. Maybe all of the speculation about IBM is correct. I am holding my shares.
For I.B.M., mobile computing has come of age. At least, smartphones and tablets may be popular enough to make I.B.M. several billion dollars.
The company is announcing a major initiative into mobile, involving software, services and partnerships with other large vendors. I.B.M. plans to deploy consultants to give companies mobile shopping strategies, write mobile apps, crunch mobile data, and manage a company's own mobile assets securely.
Thousands of employees have been trained in mobile technologies, I.B.M. says, and corporate millions will be spent on research and acquisitions in coming years. I.B.M. also announced a deal with AT&T to offer software developers access to mobile applications from AT&T's cloud.
"Mobile is the next big growth play that I.B.M. is going after," said Michael J. Riegel, the head of mobile strategy. He said his company has made 10 mobile-related acquisitions already, and will have a global research and development team of 160 people dedicated to mobile technology. In 2012 alone, he said, I.B.M. won 125 patents related to mobile.
Despite its roots in computer hardware, I.B.M. long ago moved from the business of selling things like personal computers. Much of its business now comes from higher-value work like software creation. Even its big mainframe computers, like the Jeopardy-winning Watson, are usually sold in conjunction with services and software deals.
The push into mobility comes after forays into Web commerce, data analytics and security. In each case, I.B.M. has taken an approach of signing big contracts for large-scale engagements.
By contrast, newer competitors like Google Analytics and Amazon Web Services aim for smaller sales of technologies like analytics or cloud computing, but on a mass level. I.B.M.'s entry into mobile will test whether companies want a large, pervasive approach for this kind of technology.
I.B.M.'s announcement also marks a realization among many companies that employees and customers are accessing corporate data and services via mobile from lots of places, any time of day. This, along with mobile access to cloud computing, is challenging many social and business assumptions.
