IBM to Invest $100m in Mobile Phone Research

Technology giant IBM has announced plans to invest $100m in a five-year program to conduct research into mobile communications.

The firm plans to develop technology that will bring services to people who no longer use their PCs as their main method for accessing the Internet, and instead use their mobile devices.

Research on mobile communications will be carried out across all IBM's research laboratories, and the project will be led by Guruduth Banavar, who is also Director of IBM India Research Laboratory.

The three focus areas for IBM's research are: mobile enterprise enablement, emerging market mobility and enterprise end-user mobile experiences. Analytics, security, privacy and user interface, and navigation will be also be covered by the research effort.

'Mobile devices are gradually becoming ubiquitous,' said Banavar. 'We hope this research will serve the millions of people who now use their mobile devices for managing large forces of enterprise field workers, conducting financial transactions, entertainment, shopping, and more.'

In a separate move, subsidiary company IBM Research Haifa has announced a partnership with telecoms firm Taiwan Mobile to analyze customer information and obtain business intelligence based on evolving user preferences, users context and transaction history, enabling product managers to study customer segments and tailor online mobile marketing campaigns.

IBM Research comprises approximately 3,000 scientists in eight major laboratories around the globe and is on the web at www.ibm.com .