IBM new analysis tool: blog analysis

ZDNET reports this interesting fact: IBM said it is developing an application to analyse how discussions on blogs and other Web sites are affecting a given corporation's image. It's called "Public Image Monitoring Solution" and it's based on IBM's text analytics and search software, WebSphere Information Integration OmniFind Edition. This would certainly be of interest for some e-marketing companies down there (among others).

The Web-based program could cull results on the topic of fuel efficiency from various sources and generate reports by categorizing the information. If many consumers or news stories are making negative comments about a product, for example, a marketing person would know and could react,

Why do I blog this? this seems to be a tool that would be of interest for other purposes than just marketing. I don't know whether this service will be affordable...