Software

"Apple's push to make the iPhone a desired device among the world's largest companies should receive a boost this week thanks to IBM. At long last, IBM has issued software which will bring the e-mail, calendar and contacts functions handled by its Lotus Notes software over to the iPhone. Called iNotes Ultralite, the package will be free for anyone with a Lotus Notes license, and, as of last check, IBM had moved about 140 million Lotus licenses. Lotus Notes remains popular among corporations.

"... By going through the browser, customers access their data without leaving any information on the actual device – a plus should your iPhone go missing. IBM explained away its late arrival to the iPhone game, saying it wanted to focus on these types of security concerns before going after business customers."

-- Ashlee Vance, "IBM Puts iPhone in the Lotus Position," (link resides outside of ibm.com) New York Times, 30 September 2008.

"Lotus users are already able to access the web service from their iPhones using Safari, but iNotes Ultralite provides a slicker interface . . . "

-- Bill Ray, "Lotus flowers with Apple app," (link resides outside of ibm.com) The Register, 30 September 2008

"Jason Michels, the lead system engineer for Notes at Aurora Health Care in Milwaukee, is glad iNotes is a Web-based application, since it doesn't require installing back-end servers, which can be "prohibitively expensive" to support. 'INotes is really exciting,' he said. 'You just take the Safari browser on that iPhone and put in a URL and connect.' He said there are already dozens of iPhone users in his company, and 'they are coming out of the woodwork all the time.'"

-- Matt Hamblen, "iPhone finally gets Notes support from IBM," (link resides outside of ibm.com) Computerworld, 30 September 2008.

"[I]n 2008, IBM made some moves to broaden Notes' appeal and make it available to a wider audience. In September, IBM began offering a version of the software, dubbed IBM Lotus iNotes ultralite, for Apple's popular iPhone. IBM also teamed up with Nokia to offer Notes on Nokia S60-based mobile devices and smartphones. And in October, IBM began offering Notes/Domino as a hosted messaging service."

-- "The 10 Biggest IBM Stories of 2008," (link resides outside of ibm.com) ChannelWeb.

"The impact of the Ultralite has been immense, driven by the phenomenal consumer interest in the iPhone. It has driven the acceptance for placing an ND8 server in production. More than any other Domino feature, the Ultralite interface has justified upgrades and fostered a stronger pro-Lotus attitude. Executives like the iPhone sleekness, security likes that no data is stored on the device, and infrastructure appreciates that no additional costs were incurred (e.g., no push-servers, no corporate BBs, etc.) ... "

-- Anonymous user, Notes Forum

"It looks like iNotes Ultralite is going to change the way we handle mobile devices at [name of company].

"Right now we support BlackBerries and Smartphones. Either one of those requires us to have a back-end server to send e-mail and calendar information to the device. Having a back-end server means a lot of extra expense for licensing and support. With Ultralite, I can just hand a person an iPhone and have him enter a URL. The Safari browser connects securely through the same reverse proxy servers that we already use for DWA. It simply works.

"Today the policy at my company is that almost everyone has to purchase their own mobile devices and pay for the voice and data service. My CIO has been looking for a way to make the devices affordable enough that the company can purchase them and pay for the service. The total cost for Ultralite is much cheaper because we don't have the back-end expenses, so it might get us there."

-- Anonymous user, Notes Forum