IBM has unveiled Lotus Expeditor, a tool which allows software developers to create applications for mobile handsets.

Expeditor will allow developers to port web-based applications to handsets, and create mashups that take data from multiple sources and combine them into a single application.

The company hopes that the tool will encourage companies to merge the traditional operations of productivity suites, such as calendars and messaging tools, with social networking applications.

IBM offered examples such as holiday planning tools or mobile tourist information as possible applications.

A key feature in Expeditor is the ability to update applications in the background, allowing users to receive software updates without disrupting their phone's normal activity.

"People want to be productive anywhere, anytime," said Alistair Rennie, vice president of development at IBM Lotus Software.

"Expeditor enables faster delivery of a new generation of web 2.0 applications to mobile phones."

The company plans to deliver a demonstration of Expeditor later this week at the EclipseCon 2008 conference in Santa Clara, California.