Podcasts are audio files that can be downloaded through programs like iTunes and heard on portable music players or through PCs. Apple, insisting that consumers have been clamoring for content, adds the audio files to its iTunes music store regularly. Similarly, Yahoo just introduced a site that helps users find and download podcasts.

But, much like blogging, podcasting had not made a big leap from the consumer realm to the corporate sector until IBM and a few other large companies decided to experiment with the new format.

Corporate Drive

Big Blue is not the first to explore podcasts. General Motors and PepsiCo both have launched their own podcast initiatives.

At a GM-sponsored site, the company's chief car designer chats about upcoming models. And Pepsi has used podcasting to experiment with marketing. In addition, EarningsCast.com offers podcasts that have more of an Internet radio feel. They let investors listen to financial conference calls held by publicly traded companies.

It is likely that more companies will jump into podcasting if it takes off with customers, especially if the technology is used by larger enterprises that can fully explore and exploit the new medium.

But it is also probable that the trend will spike and then dwindle somewhat, according to Forrester Research analyst Ted Schadler. "I would expect a flurry of podcasted material of all kinds, but then a slow tail off," he said, "leaving only the most valuable podcasted material left."

Tough Challenges

As IBM will probably find, there are challenges to introducing podcasts. The group IBM initially is targeting with the podcasts, investors, typically does not have much time to spare for reading, much less for listening to audio presentations.

The market for audio-formatted training material does exist already, Schadler pointed out, and is dominated by companies like Berlitz, which has built a business on helping people master languages using audio.

But because it takes longer to listen to a podcast than to read the same material online, it might be difficult for IBM and other companies to woo customers into giving up their free time, especially when they can skim through the material more quickly on their own.

"Right now, podcasting is more experimentation than anything else," said Schadler. "Basically, we're in the throes of phase one."