Jan. 20, 2010

 

IBM plans to extend parts of its Lotus mobile software for the Apple iPhone, Google Android, and Nokia-Symbian devices, and will resell Research In Motion's BlackBerry devices, officials said at the Lotusphere event this week.

 

Lotus Notes is IBM's client software, and Notes Traveler is the existing mobile version, numbered 8.5.1. A new plug-in, Traveler Companion, is now shipping via the Apple App Store. More support for iPhone, such as Traveler's calendar, is planned for version 8.5.2 later this year, program manager Jan Kenney said.

 

Android 2.0 and 2.1 support is also planned, but that development only recently began and IBM isn't saying when it will ship.

 

Seperately, Lotus Sametime collaboration software will ship for Nokia-Symbian devices by the end of this year.

 

On the hardware side, IBM said it's already started reselling BlackBerry devices loaded with Lotus software for social networking. That deal has been several months in the making, as such a move is rare for IBM, although not completely unprecdented: IBM resold Palm III organizers in the late-1990s but that deal did not last long.

 

IBM also announced R&D efforts for its next-generation collaboration platform called Project Vulcan. Mobile access will be an important part of that, and details will be announced throughout 2010, officials said.

 

Big Blue's overall mobile committment this week made some experts question whether the company is becoming anti-landline. IBM was "talking smack" about business landlines in some of the Lotusphere sessions this week, Current Analysis' Brians Riggs reported.