“People just wanted one place to find a Notes application that fit their needs.  We started NotesAppStore.com to provide a simple way to find solutions and their company websites without having to sort through a ton of search results pages.    They also wanted some input from the Notes community whether the application was reliable and customer support readily available so we added user reviews as well.”

Apple launched their app store for the iPhone and developers continue to add thousands of application per day.   With fewer developers for Lotus Notes market, the need for an application marketplace is even greater.

It appears as if this plug-in will dynamically display LinkedIn profiles, status, and other information in the Notes 8 sidebar.  This plug-in will also be a great example of what Ed Brill, the Director of Product Management for Lotus Notes at IBM, calls “contextual collaboration.”  Users will be able to access relevant information without having to leave what they are already working on.

With the ease of recalling email addresses in LinkedIn, this plug-in seems to be a great idea for those that use Notes.  The reviews have only been positive and for more information, visit http://www.linkedin.com/lotus.

According to IBM, Lotus Notes Diagnostic is “an unsupported utility that you can download and use to automatically perform repetitive taks associated with anaylzying files from a Lotus Domino server crash, hang, or performance issues.”

But that’s not all, as Lotus Notes Diagnostic runs on Windows.  Yet, it can analyze Domino server files from any platform.  It should also be noted that Lotus Notes clients version 5 and above are supported.

For the latest version of this tool, click here.

In addition to making these new features available on the iPhone, IBM recently began development practices that incorporate social media.  They have been utilizing “blogs and Twitter to collect and make hundreds of refinements suggested by people who want to work smarter.”  These new features, which include refinements to search and ways to edit messages, are now present on desktop software and some are even available on the iPhone.

IBM has previously worked with Nokia and Samsung to bring Lotus Notes Traveler support to smart phone customers.  They are currently working with AT&T, Spring, Verizon Wireless, and Orange in order to keep expanding Lotus Notes.

The shows also illustrated the entire range of Lotus products from IBM, which empower businesses and end users through the sharing of information in a team space.  They also focused on the use of the latest Web 2.0 based tools such as blogs and Wikis.  As the Lotus Software brand leader at SBM, Nazeer Aval, said:

In challenging economic times, the ability to collaborate with colleagues, partners and customers from around the world is a financial necessity.  With the latest versions of Lotus collaborative product portfolio, SBM/IBM is helping businesses save money and time by lowering TCO and identify ROI benefits quickly and easily.

The two companies have also announced a LinkedIn integration into Lotus Connections, as well as an option to launch a Bluehouse web conference directly from someone’s LinkedIn profile.  However, there is no set date for their release. 

As for the LinkedIn plug-in for Lotus Notes, IBM revealed in January that it would be released some time this year.  There seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel, though, as it was just released to employees at IBM.