IBM has expanded its mobile application development portfolio with what it calls Ready Apps that can help firms build mobile apps within hours. The company says these pre-configured apps will save users upto 60% time and resources. It has also opened 18 studios called MobileFirst, including one in Bangalore, to help business leaders accelerate mobile initiatives.
IBM Ready Apps include those for banking, retail, healthcare, insurance, travel, and government organizations. Companies can change the look and feel of these apps and also add features. It will be particularly useful for startups that are limited by resources.
“As mobile apps become a primary touchpoint with clients, the stakes run high to delight consumers. At the same time, the cost of a poorly designed app can significantly impact both the brand and bottomline,” said Marie Wieck, general manager, IBM MobileFirst. “IBM’s mobile platform, apps and studios are designed to help businesses accelerate the adoption of a mobile strategy for business growth.”
IBM mobile studios will provide clients direct access to local teams of mobile experts including designers, developers , architects and consultants . Clients can work along with IBM mobile professionals to conceive, design, build and deploy new apps.
IBM said its Worklight, Cloudant and BlueMix technologies will enable developers to create and manage apps, on-premise or in the cloud. Worklight is a mobile enterprise app development platform deployed on a client’s IT infrastructure, while BlueMix delivers similar capabilities as cloud-based services . IBM also announced that more than 30 new cloud services are now available in BlueMix, its platform-as-aservice (PaaS), to help developers integrate applications and deployment of new cloud services. The company launched its first BlueMix Garage by which developers, product managers and designers can interact with IBM experts to innovate and deliver new cloud apps deployed onto BlueMix.
