Can IBM Make a "Quantum" Leap?

We've all heard the narrative by now: IBM (NYSE: IBM) is in terminal decline, having fallen prey to younger, leaner companies such as Amazon. And even former cheerleader Warren Buffett is ditching the stock.

To this point, IBM's revenue has been declining for 21 straight quarters, and many of the company's high-touch, high-cost offerings have become increasingly commoditized by cloud computing. While the Jeopardy-winning Watson product was supposed to be the company's next big thing, it's not showing up (yet, at least) in the company's revenues, and reports on some Watson pilot programs have not been entirely positive.

However, while IBM may be hanging on to declining (but profitable) businesses and paddling hard to catch up in cloud computing, the company is also investing research dollars toward the next big thing. Here are a few moves IBM is making with an eye on the next century, not the next quarter.

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Source: Fool.com