[wladimir]

problems that require technical breakthroughs or research level computer science knowledge,

They're not just a plain boring services company.

I'm sure that quite a lot of research went into Watson, and I think IBM is betting big on that technology. Potential applications are in healthcare (to quickly find an answer in all medical knowledge), legal documents analysis, and so on.

[jbooth]

IBM might be betting on the technology but it's already a win for them on publicity alone if it never earns them another dollar.

They definitely spent much more on "ads during football games with the blue bars" in any given year than they did on the whole Watson project.