Lotus Notes is IBM’s equivalent of Microsoft Outlook/Entourage and Google’s GMail. Aside from being installed on corporate machines, we did not see much of a web-based presence of the service until now.

IBM has launched a new service called LotusLive iNotes. This service has e-mail, calendar, and contact management services. The price of the service is $3 per user per month. This beats the cost of using Google Apps as they charge $50 per user per year.

IBM launched this service in order to win approval from companies that are seeking a more mobile way for employees to perform business duties away from the desk. The technology used for LotusLive iNotes is based on technology developed by Outblaze, a Hong Kong based company that IBM bought out in January 2009.