IBM has some new software designed to help organizations embrace social networking using the broadest range of mobile devices. Yesterday, IBM launched three updated mobile applications designed to help businesses that use its enterprise social networking package, Connections.  Customers can download the software from all major app stores, which include Apple iOS, Android and Blackberry.  Connections allows gaining access to blogs, employee data, status updates, wikis, as well as share files, videos and photos.

“This is an entire refresh of what we can do on a mobile device now,” said Jeff Schick, VP of social software at IBM. Previously, IBM had made a subset of functions available through mobile browsers and offered some native support for Research In Motion’s BlackBerry phones. Now, IBM has invested in creating native apps for each of the major mobile operating systems, with access to all the major features of its social software.

The apps take advantage of each mobile device system’s unique advantages, with the Apple version enabling partial data wipes of the device to protect sensitive corporate information, Blackberry version allowing users to participate in online meetings and the Android version featuring click-to-call integration with the device’s calendar. IBM is also reportedly working on cloud-based meeting support with LotusLive Meetings.

With this new software, IBM will also assist IT administrators in simplifying the management of corporate and personal data on employee devices.  A new IBM collaboration software ‘partial wipe’ capability for Apple iOS devices allows IT administrators to wipe only the confidential company data from the device while preserving a worker’s personal email, photos, videos, and games.

Moreover, IBM mobile play for Connections comes shortly after Forrester Research named Big Blue as one of the leaders in the enterprise social networking platform market, an acknowledgement that might surprise observers who would expect only new names at the top of that upstart segment of the enterprise communications market.

IBM also is expanding the capabilities of its Sametime IM and unified communication application for Android and Blackberry devices.  Sametime on Android now offers text-to-speech for reading incoming messages, the ability to send photos through Sametime chats, and the ability to automatically update location status. On Blackberry devices users can now participate in online meetings through Sametime.

“We are not just going to focus on one device or platform. We are finding that enterprises have to give the user’s choice. The capability of the platforms is such now that you can do some amazing things on these devices,” says Ingram, IBM executive.