At the 10th anniversary
commemoration of IBM's India Research Lab, the company today unveiled a new
initiative to bring even more features and functions to mobile devices as
they continue to rival the PC as the primary tool for Web-based business,
education, communication, entertainment and more.
The new IBM Research (NYSE: IBM [1]) program will entail a number of efforts to
bring simple, easy-to-use services to the millions of people in the world
who have bypassed using the personal computer as their primary method of
accessing technology, and are instead using their mobile phone to access
the web, conduct financial transactions, entertain themselves, shop and
more.
"The world is entering the 'Era of the Mobile Web.' In many countries, the
mobile phone has become an electronic wallet, the window to the World Wide
Web, an education device and more, and globally, mobile devices outnumber
PCs, credit cards, and TVs," said Dr. Daniel Dias, Director, IBM India
Research laboratory. "Today, we are launching projects that will make a
mobile device an even easier to use than the PC, allowing you to do
everything you can with a PC and much more."
The projects, which will be led out of India, but also are being incubated
in IBM's eight global labs in six countries, include:
-- The Spoken Web - Voice-enabled mobile commerce
-- Instant Translation - Real-time communication between multiple
languages through mobile devices
-- SoulPad - Enabling any portable device to carry computing applications
in your pocket
-- Social networking on-the-go
-- Good Samaritan - Mobile healthcare information made available in any
emergency situation
For the past 10 years, IBM's India Research Lab has worked with local
clients and partners to shape India's innovation landscape, helping
transform it into a significant contributor to the world economy. Now, the
India Research team will serve as IBM's catalyst for delivering new mobile
web solutions to emerging markets around the world.
IBM Research examines in great depth the current trajectories of new
technologies in the lab and marketplace, concentrating on trends that could
be disruptive or the harbingers of change. In many regions, mobile devices
are becoming an increasingly viable alternative to PCs. These devices are
capable of delivering more types of data, applications and services through
advanced wireless networks. This, coupled with the openness and
convergence of Web applications, is making a major impact on the global
mobile market.
"Today, staying competitive means looking ahead. The rise of globalization
is shifting the way business works," said John Kelly, Senior Vice
President, IBM Research. "Business leaders need to anticipate how these
changes will affect their ways of operating and look to new technological
innovations to help them succeed in this new landscape."
An innovative initiative currently being piloted by the India Research team
is the "Spoken Web" project, which aims to transform how people create,
build and interact with e-commerce sites on the World Wide Web using the
spoken word instead of the written word. The Spoken Web is the World Wide
Web in a telecom network, where people can host and browse "VoiceSites,"
traverse "VoiceLinks," even conduct business transactions, all just by
talking over the existing telephone network.
For example, an average person on the street does not need a PC, but needs
access to information such as:
-- Fishermen need weather info before heading out to sea
-- Farmers need to look up commodity prices
-- Plumbers can schedule appointments, set up transfers to partners, use
advertisements
-- Grocery shops can display catalogues, offer order placement, display
personalized targeted advertisements or reminders
Such locally relevant information is not available for a majority of world
population. Computer access is not enough because there is a need to know
what to look for, how to access it and how to use it.
IBM researchers across the globe are working on additional innovative
mobile web solutions, including:
Universal Mobile Translator
IBM's researchers are developing new technology to facilitate speech
between individuals who speak no common language with the goal of free-form
dialogue facilitated by a PDA. IBM technology is already allowing travelers
using PDAs to translate menus in Japanese and doctors to communicate with
patients in Spanish. IBM real-time translation technologies will be
embedded into mobile phones, handheld devices and cars.
Portable Power in Your Pocket
IBM's SoulPad software allows PC users to separate a computer's "soul" --
the programs, settings and data it holds -- from its body, the disks,
keyboard, screen, processor and other hardware from which it is comprised.
Once a computer's soul is stored on a storage device like a portable USB
hard drive or iPod with SoulPad software, it can be carried around and
reincarnated in any other computer simply by plugging in the storage device
and starting the computer up.
Social Networks Go Mobile
Consumers can communicate with their social network friends regardless of
where they are with voice and SMS from either a PC or a mobile phone. This
is huge for generation Y consumers. For example, young shoppers looking at
purchasing clothes in a store are increasingly looking for immediate
feedback via their social networks, and the easiest way to make this happen
is via mobile devices.
Healthcare Goes Mobile
IBM Research has brought together mobile phones and "presence" technology
combined with health records to provide a potential "good samaritan" with
information on how to aid people in critical medical situations. This
combination of IBM Research capabilities and IBM WebSphere Presence Server
exemplifies IBM's ability to create enhanced mobile applications for
everyday life.
Much of the world's population is looking to mobile devices to tap into
online resources to fulfill basic economic needs -- in banking, e-commerce,
education, transportation and government.
The World Wide Web (WWW) enabled quick and easy information dissemination
and brought about fundamental changes to various aspects of our lives.
However, a very large number of people, mostly in developing regions, are
still untouched by this revolution.
Compared to PCs, the primary access mechanism to WWW, mobile phones have
made a phenomenal penetration into this population segment. Low cost of
ownership, the simple user interface consisting of a small keyboard,
limited menu and voice-based access contribute to the success of mobile
phones with the less literate. However, apart from basic voice
communication, these people are not being able to exploit the benefits of
information and services available to WWW users.
For the first time ever, more people will have a mobile phone than a
regular telephone. Mobile devices outnumber PCs by three to one, credit
cards by two to one and TVs by two to one. IBM's Institute for Business
Value predicts the number of mobile Web users will grow by 191 percent from
2006 to 2011 to reach one billion. This proliferation of mobile devices and
mobile Web users signals an incredibly lucrative growth opportunity for
businesses.
IBM is making major investments in mobile software and hardware platforms
and has opened several worldwide telecom solutions labs focused on research
and development.