IBM Starts Web Game to Boost `Smarter Planet' Sales
International Business Machines Corp. is starting an online video game that simulates business and city problems and provides different technologies to solve them, aiming to boost sales of services and software.
Users choose from four sectors -- banking, retail, water or energy -- and solve related problems, such as monitoring a city’s water quality or power supply. Users can download the game, called CityOne, for free starting today, Nancy Pearson, a vice president in IBM’s software business, said in a phone interview.
The game, which lets users pick different technology options and compare results, may increase awareness and sales of new services at IBM, Pearson said. IBM has been investing in technology for its Smarter Planet program, the idea that anything from buildings to utility grids can be digitally measured to be more efficient. Such technology will generate about $10 billion in sales by 2015, Armonk, New York-based IBM said in May.
“This is a way to engage people who may not have thought of IBM before in this way,” Pearson said.
More than 7,000 people have signed up to download the game, including members of universities, governments and businesses, she said. Users will be able to chat via the Internet with IBM representatives if they have questions.
The banking and retail paths of the game will present more business-related problems, such as boosting risk management, Pearson said. The company plans to add more sectors and scenarios to the game, Pearson said.
IBM fell 39 cents to $135.25 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have climbed 3.3 percent this year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Katie Hoffmann in New York at khoffmann4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net.
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