IBM moves to expedite mashups for mobile

IBM has released a new version of its Lotus Expeditor software, which is targeted at mobile application developers building both business and consumer Web 2.0 mashups.

According to IBM, Lotus Expeditor 6.1.2--released last week--supports laptops, desktops, kiosks, and mobile-device clients. The company says it is designed for building mobile mashups such as services for the tourism market, where electronic map applications are integrated with information on local restaurants, weather, or independent vacation-spot review sites.

"We see great potential for mobile mashups in areas such as social networking, blogging, and discussion groups as they become ever more widespread in terms of their adoption," said Angus McIntyre, product line manager for Lotus Expeditor, on Tuesday.

"A central part of Lotus Expeditor technology is its use of the Eclipse embedded Rich Client Platform application model. This allows applications to be created to span both desktop and mobile devices."

IBM's Expeditor news came at the same time as wireless-services carrier Sprint Nextel announcement that it is providing a beta version of a new software platform, named Titan, based on IBM Lotus Expeditor software. Sprint says Titan allows developers, for the first time, to move business applications using the Eclipse development framework from the desktop to most Windows Mobile 6 smartphones.

"Mashups and Web 2.0 technologies as a whole are proving popular in a variety of delivery formats, as they extend outward from the desktop to the mobile computing arena," said Antony Edwards, vice president of developer product marketing at Symbian, on Tuesday.

"What is crucial now," he added, "is that the concept-to-delivery stage is completed in a robust and reliable way if this type of software development is to graduate from comparatively simple social networking to full-blown usage in business. Careful architecting for each mobile platform in question will be fundamental to the widescale commercial adoption of mobile mashups."

Mobile application developers can tune into a podcast, titled "The Future of Mobile Phones," for IBM's view of the additional innovations and wider implications of current developments in the mobile market.

Adrian Bridgwater of ZDNet UK reported from London.

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