IBM's MobileFirst In A World Of More Intelligent Devices

IBM has used its Impact 2013 conference focused on WebSphere as well as mobile and connected devices to detail news of updates to the IBM MobileFirst portfolio. The software is now being extended with the introduction of new mobile analytics capabilities and cloud services.

The firm says that as a result of current developments mobile apps can now be "constantly tailored" to meet the needs of the specific audience they are trying to reach.

NOTE: WebSphere is software for SOA environments using dynamic interconnected processes. It is designed to deliver application infrastructures for all business situations.

The firm held a series of keynote presentations this week as well as break out press sessions focused on mobile application development hosted by Kristen Lauria, vice president of MobileFirst and WebSphere Marketing at IBM. Speaking to the assembled group, Ford Motor Company's Judy Asher, who is manager for research and technology, highlighted the changing nature of mobile apps and the fact that so-called "disposable apps" are now emerging and making the need for much faster development.

NOTE: Disposable apps are intended to exist only as temporary pieces of software devoted to (for example) a four-day IT show such as IBM Impact, a new car launch, or some other short term special event.

IBM says its MobileFirst platform is the first in the industry to speed the process of building apps by enabling companies to integrate analytics and capture the complete on-device experience of how customers are using apps, including insight into gestures, dwell time, and navigation.

The IBM MobileFirst platform now includes geo-location services for developers. CTO of mobile research for IBM John Ponzo said that customers are using mobile as a channel and, crucially, that business transformation needs to start internally on the back-end and then extend to the mobile experience.

Now, geo-location triggers can extend applications to take contextual action based on a user's location to provide personalized service. Featuring a new toolkit, developers can monitor battery and network bandwidth. Additionally, newly integrated mobile app testing capabilities have been provided here to enable developers to improve app quality while reducing the effort needed to test across different mobile platforms.