Mobile Broadband App from IBM

IBM is going native to enhance smartphone access to its enterprise social media platform.

Previously, IBM had made a subset of functions available through mobile browsers and offered some native support for Research In Motion's BlackBerry phones. Now, IBM has invested in creating native apps for each of the major mobile operating systems, with access to all the major features of its social software.

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IBM also announced some specific enhancements for each mobile operating system from across its collaboration software product line:

-- Partial wipe for Apple iOS devices: New IBM software provides "partial wipe" capability for Apple iOS devices, allowing an IT administrator to wipe only company data from the device while preserving a worker's personal data, such as personal email, photos, videos, and games. -- Click-to-call from Android OS device calendar: Available in beta now, this Lotus Notes Traveler feature allows IBM email users to call people listed in their calendar views with just one click.

-- Unified communications for Android devices: IBM's Sametime software for Android extends presence awareness and instant messaging with new features including text-to-speech, which can read incoming messages when the users cannot stop to look at the device, for example when driving. -- Online meeting support for BlackBerry: IBM Sametime meetings support allows BlackBerry users to participate in online meetings using their mobile devices.

IBM on Monday launched three updated mobile applications designed to help businesses that use its enterprise social networking package, Connections.

The IBM Connections software was previously known as Lotus Connections and has been around in some form since 2007. There’s also added functionality on each smartphone platform, with additional apps that support Connections. For BlackBerry, users can actively participate in online meetings using the IBM Sametime app if they choose.

On the Android version of Lotus Notes Traveler, there’s a click-to-call ability tied into the operating system’s calendar. Android also has IBM’s Sametime app, which creates a unified communications feature so users can take advantage of text-to-speech and instant messaging functions.

IBM (NYSE:IBM) is continuing to evolve its old Lotus Connections platform, announcing this week that it has crafted a mobile application gateway to the platform for corporate enterprise users of Apple's (Nasdaq:AAPL) iOS, Research in Motion's (Nasdaq:RIMM) BlackBerry and Google's (Nasdaq:GOOG) Android mobile devices.

The new mobile apps are free from their respective device app stores.

VentureBeat says the apps take advantage of each mobile device system's unique advantages, with the Apple version enabling partial data wipes of the device to protect sensitive corporate information, the BlackBerry version allowing users to participate in online meetings and the Android version featuring click-to-call integration with the device's calendar.

IBM (NYSE:IBM) is making its Connections social networkingapplication available for Apple (NSDQ:AAPL), Android and BlackBerry smartphones and tablet computers, the company said Monday. Connections is IBM's answer to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter and applications like Salesforce.com's Chatter. IBM is now offering versions of Connections that run on the Apple iOS, BlackBerry and Android operating environments. More employees are using their personal mobile devices for work and securing data on those devices is becoming a burden for IT managers, IBM noted.

IBM also is expanding the capabilities of its Sametime IM and unified communication application for Android and BlackBerry devices. On BlackBerry devices users can now participate in online meetings through Sametime.

A new Lotus Notes Traveler "click-to-call" capability, currently in beta, allows IBM e-mail users to call people listed in the Android OS device calendar with a single click.