Brian Bergstein of the AP recently reported that IBM plans to make a formal announcement of the Lotus Notes e-mail package for Apple’s portable devices—the iPhone and iPod touch— at its Lotusphere conference in Orlando, Fla., next week. The report also asserts that IBM will release Lotus Notes and the free Lotus Symphony “productivity” package - which includes documents, spreadsheets and other Microsoft Office-like software for Apple’s Macintosh computers.

Of course, the iPhone already connects users to Web-based e-mail services and to corporate e-mail sent over Microsoft’s Exchange e-mail platform; however, Bergstein reports that businesses rarely enable the setting that makes it possible. He suggests that if IBM, which counts 135 million Lotus users worldwide, can get companies to let their employees check Lotus e-mail on iPhones, the partnership could make Apple’s gadget more competitive with Research in Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry and other business-targeted smart phones.

If true, the application will be the first official, third-party app. developed with Apple’s new iPhone SDK. An IBM spokesman seemingly confirmed the announcements by saying that Apple and IBM have, “a lot in common. We’re going to cross-pollinate.”

For more check out Bergstein’s full article.