“Apple’s iPad represents a thin, 1.5-pound wrecking ball aimed at the division between netbooks and smart phones. But it may also do collateral damage to another long-crumbling barrier: the separation between work and play. And if that happens, IBM wants be ready to help tear down the wall,” Greenberg reports.
“Earlier this week at the Macworld conference in San Francisco, IBM announced new business-focused apps for the iPhone operating system, including Lotus Connections tool for social networking inside companies and Lotus Quickr software for sharing documents,” Greenberg reports. “Those releases follow Big Blue’s launch last month of a Lotus Notes app for the iPhone that includes e-mail and calendar tools, as well as an app known as Lotus Notes Traveler that allows encrypted e-mail.”
Greenberg reports, “While those programs are partly aimed at tapping into the small but growing number of iPhones in the enterprise, IBM’s manager of Lotus software says they’re also timed to give Big Blue a foothold on the iPad, which will use the same software platform. ‘Our customers are looking at the iPad and they’re excited about it,’ says Rennie. ‘No one quite knows its use patterns yet, but it’s our intention to deliver as much of our portfolio as possible on it as fast as possible.'”
Full article here.