JP: E-commerce really is a subset of e-business. E-business, to IBM, is a much broader approach to integrating all the aspects of a company's business, and leveraging some of the new technologies to be able to do that integration.

DG: So, e-business is, in effect, another way of saying "computers in a business world."

JP: It's really computers in the business world leveraging new Internet technologies. That's really the key. We have been very much focused on helping customers improve their business processes, focusing on the key elements such as customer relationship management, supply chain management, and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solutions. And when you start to leverage the Internet technologies and you can reach out to both your partners and your employees in new ways, you really begin to look at the applications in a new light. This is what e-business is all about. And pervasive computing is, in reality, pervasive e-business: leveraging new technologies such as a wireless infrastructure and the emergence of new devices to enable a whole new class of applications.

DG: So, for example, if my server goes down, it can find me when I'm in the bathroom at a Wal-Mart.

JP: How to handle that question (laughs). The question really might be, what are some of the new aspects of pervasive applications? Really, application characteristics are changing to acknowledge the immediacy of information access. It's no longer an issue of going to a tethered device and making an Internet connection, but wherever you are, with every device, you have immediate access to information. Also, it acknowledges the mobility of the person. The application would acknowledge that you are somewhere. We did an application with Swiss Air, for example, where people on their Web phones (though this may not be directly relevant to the Palm device it certainly can be done on devices such as the Palm VII) can check into their flights without having to wait at the check-in line. The future, of course, is going to include applications that know where you might be and having an application focus on location-based services. An application can do something different based on the knowledge of where you might be.

DG: We've started hearing about smart phones that automatically transition from ringing to vibrating in quiet zones, like a theatre. Is this what you mean by location-based services?

JP: Absolutely. For example, Palm is one of the elements enabling new classes of devices enabling new communications between devices. We're seeing many new technologies, but the location-based service is slightly different from what you describe because you have an advertising flavor. You might get an ad based on where you are because you choose to get it. Perhaps a yellow pages search where you're looking for certain types of restaurants, and you might get an ad saying "Oh, by the way, just around the corner is a place that you might very well be interested in." Or you are in a store and you're shopping and you say, "Let me find competing stores; show me something within a few miles." And it does it automatically for you.