Innovation on the web is not something one usually associates with IBM, known more for its hardy mainframes and in recent times, software services. With accessibility to the net having spread to hand held devices and users moving towards mobile web usage, Big Blue is keen to corner the early-mover advantage.

IBM's India Research Labs has unveiled a new initiative to bring more features and functions to mobile devices in a bid to make them easier to use than computers, as they increasingly become the primary tools for web-based business, education, communication, entertainment and whatever else use the web may be put to.

The initiative will be mostly led from India but is taking shape in eight of the company's global labs across six countries. This programme will entail a number of efforts to bring simple, easy-to-use services to the millions of people in the world who have bypassed using the personal computer as their primary method of accessing technology, and are instead using their mobile phone to access the web, conduct financial transactions, entertain themselves, shop and more.

This initiative is aimed at not just global CEOs and hot shot executives but simple users like fishermen looking up weather reports, farmers inquiring about agri commodity prices and small shops maintaining their catalogues up to date.

"The world is entering the 'era of the mobile web,'  says Dr Daniel Dias, director, IBM India Research laboratory. ''In many countries, the mobile phone has become an electronic wallet, the window to the world wide web, an education device and more, and globally, mobile devices outnumber PCs, credit cards, and TVs."

"Today, we are launching projects that will make a mobile device an even easier to use than the PC, allowing you to do everything you can with a PC and much more."

The programme includes projects such as:

1. The spoken web or voice-enabled mobile commerce
2. Instant translation providing instant communication between multiple languages through mobile devices
3. SoulPad that enables any portable device to carry computing applications in the pocket
4. Social networking while on the move
5. Good Samaritan mobile healthcare information made available in any emergency situation

Some of the pilot projects being undertaken in India include:

1. The spoken web aimed at transforming how people create and interact with e-commerce sites using the spoken word instead of in writing. It is the world wide web in a telecom network, where people can host and browse "VoiceSites", traverse "VoiceLinks", even conduct business transactions, all just by talking over the existing telephone network.
2. Information number - get information available on the internet just by dialling a toll-free number.

For the first time ever, more people will have a mobile phone than a regular telephone. Mobile devices already outnumber PCs by three to one, credit cards and TVs by two to one.

IBM's Institute for Business Value predicts the number of mobile web users will grow by 191 per cent from 2006 to 2011 to reach one billion. This proliferation of mobile devices and mobile web users signals an incredibly lucrative growth opportunity for businesses, and IBM is doing its utmost to get the early mover advantage.