IBM CEO Samuel J. Palmisano wants software sales to account for half of the company's pretax profit within five years. He says IBM in 2015 "will be as dramatically different as IBM is today versus 2003," when software sales accounted for about 33% of profit." Palmisano's particular focus is on high-margin programs called analytics that help clients sort through the increasing data generated in electronic form. These programs, for example, help retailers spot unexpected trends or governments to flag welfare fraud. For a decade, the company has been shifting out of technology businesses where companies compete mainly …

General Motors North America president Mark Reuss has a new program he calls "knothole drives" that is based on his belief that every new vehicle should pass through "a small knothole of excellence" and intense scrutiny. The drives are conducted by 8 to 10 of the company's top engineers and executives, who spend several hours a week tooling around in models in development -- a concept that was "unthinkable" at the old GM, Mark Phelan writes. "A bunch of us realized we need to have the true car people looking at our cars and the competition to see …

Beth Snyder Bulik tracks the demand for arms bands such as Silly Bandz, ZanyBandz and Crazy Bandz and finds that the craze is "100% viral," fueled by social media and playground one-upmanship. Brainchild's Silly Bandz claims to be the creator of the themed packs of the thin silicone bands that kids wear up their arms and trade among themselves, Snyder Bulik writes. Its Facebook page has more than 163,000 followers. Most of the manufacturer's band sets are generic shapes with themed packages such as animals, dinosaurs or sports. But Forever Collectibles' Logo Bandz is licensing names from entertainment …

Following a Food and Drug Administration inquiry, Walgreens says it is reversing a decision to sell a saliva test made by Pathway Genomics that promises to scan a customer's DNA to determine the risk for a host of diseases including breast cancer, diabetes and obesity, Rob Stein reports. It had planned to offer the product at more than 6,000 of its 7,500 stores starting tomorrow. "In light of the FDA contacting Pathway Genomics about its genetic test kit and anticipated ongoing discussions between the two parties, we've elected not to move forward with offering the Pathway product to our …

Despite published reports this week, an antitrust attorney who has looked at court documents says they don't prove such a deal exists and it's not clear how long Apple's iPhone will be married to AT&T's network, Gregg Keizer reports. Nokia Oyj, meanwhile, has named company veteran Anssi Vanioki to take over a new smartphone unit and bring back the buzz to the company whose products have been eclipsed by the likes of iPhone and BlackBerry in recent years, Bloomberg reports.