Making sense of mobile device, app, and information management

Smartphones, tablets, social networks, and cloud services are all popular, incredibly useful -- and a security risk. These days, the security focus is on mobile devices, as they tend to be used a lot to work with corporate information, but the variety of platforms, the fact many are employee-owned, and uneven security capabilities all add up to a real -- sometimes impossible -- challenge to manage them in the same way as the corporate PC.

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The issue is not so much hacking; outside of malware easily available in the Android Market, mobile devices are safer than PCs from hackers. Instead, the issue is inappropriate information usage, where employees inadvertently spill the beans about contacts, embarrass people, violate any number of privacy regulations, and neglect compliance obligations. Most people do it by mistake, while some people do it deliberately; what matters is that they do it.

That puts organizations in an uncomfortable position. Survey after survey shows that technologically empowered users are happier and more productive, so businesses want to tap into that benefit. But they also have to safeguard their secrets and comply with regulations. The good news is that although the methods and tools are still new, there are known, proven approaches to reducing those risks without disabling the benefit of consumerization.

Making sense of mobile device, app, and information management

Smartphones, tablets, social networks, and cloud services are all popular, incredibly useful -- and a security risk. These days, the security focus is on mobile devices, as they tend to be used a lot to work with corporate information, but the variety of platforms, the fact many are employee-owned, and uneven security capabilities all add up to a real -- sometimes impossible -- challenge to manage them in the same way as the corporate PC.

Best Microsoft MCTS Certification, Microsoft MCITP Training at examkingdom.com

The issue is not so much hacking; outside of malware easily available in the Android Market, mobile devices are safer than PCs from hackers. Instead, the issue is inappropriate information usage, where employees inadvertently spill the beans about contacts, embarrass people, violate any number of privacy regulations, and neglect compliance obligations. Most people do it by mistake, while some people do it deliberately; what matters is that they do it.

That puts organizations in an uncomfortable position. Survey after survey shows that technologically empowered users are happier and more productive, so businesses want to tap into that benefit. But they also have to safeguard their secrets and comply with regulations. The good news is that although the methods and tools are still new, there are known, proven approaches to reducing those risks without disabling the benefit of consumerization.

Does a Mozilla smartphone/tablet OS have a chance against Android and iOS?

If Mozilla has teamed up with a hardware partner (or partners) then it’s serious about B2G, and if it’s serious about B2G, then it’s also serious about going head-to-head against Apple and Google.

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If rumors are to be believes, not only will Mozilla take the wraps off the Mozilla Marketplace at next week’s Mobile World Congress, but it will also announce that it has teamed up with LG to bring a developer-oriented mobile device to market.

Does Mozilla stand a chance against the likes of Android, Chrome, Windows Phone (and Windows 8) and iOS when it comes to smartphone and tablet operating systems?

Mozilla Marketplace is the company’s plan to bring apps to Firefox, which will make a debut with Firefox 13 in June. However, Mozilla has also hinted as aspirations to enter the OS market with it’s Boot to Gecko (B2G) project, a OS that runs HTML5, JavaScript and CSS directly on device hardware without the need for an intermediate OS layer.

According to ExtremeTech, Mozilla has partnered with LG and is to announce a developer device that could go on sale as early as next week, and that this device will give developers the chance to start developing apps for B2G.

However, at present there’s really no sign of B2G code, so it’s likely that any devices sold now would sit on desks gathering dust until later in the year. This fact alone makes me suspect that there won’t be a device on sale next week, and that at best this is an announcement.

But either way it’s interesting. If Mozilla has teamed up with a hardware partner (or partners) then it’s serious about B2G, and if it’s serious about B2G, then it’s also serious about going head-to-head against Apple and Google.

And that could be a huge problem for Mozilla. Apple and Google are titans of the tech industry, and by comparison Mozilla is, well, nothing. Even Microsoft is having a tough time breaking into the post-PC device market, and that company has billions at its disposal and enormous reach into almost every corner of the consumer and enterprise IT markets. If Microsoft is having a hard time going up against Apple and Google, what’s Mozilla’s secret sauce?

Mozilla might have been able to outmaneuver Microsoft when it came to offering an alternative web browser, but this is an entirely different thing. Giving away a free browser is very different to trying to sell hardware of a platform. Not only that, but Google and Apple are far more on the ball than Microsoft was when it comes to protecting their markets and threat recognition.

I see this playing out in one of three ways:

Fantasy-case scenario: Mozilla becomes a big player in post-PC hardware with B2G and offers hardware OEMs and carriers an alternative to Google, Apple and Microsoft’s walled-garden approach (yeah, right … ).
Best-case scenario: B2G hardware dies on the vine before Mozilla invests too much money and development time in the project.
Worst-case scenario: Google, Apple and Microsoft tag-team Mozilla in the courts, dragging the company into the ongoing litigation mess that the mobile hardware market has evolved into, and Mozilla ends up hemorrhaging cash.

I see what Mozilla is trying to do here. It’s basically trying to turn every copy of Firefox, no matter where it is, into an operating system capable of running apps. That’s a noble idea (although you might wonder just how fragmented the app market is going to get soon, with everyone wanting a piece of it), but B2G takes it a step further to the point where Mozilla wants to become the platform of its own. And it’s that plan that puts Mozilla on a collision course with the Goliaths of the tech industry.

I’m thinking that Mozilla has bitten off more than it can chew here.

Apple's iPad trademark battle comes to US from China

Proview Electronics has brought its legal battle against Apple to the U.S., accusing the company of using deceptive practices to acquire the iPad trademark.

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Proview is asking for damages and for Apple to permanently stop using the iPad trademark, according to documents filed with the Superior Court of California for the County of Santa Clara. Proview, which is struggling financially, is accusing Apple of fraudulently acquiring trademarks through a shell company called IP Application Development Ltd.

Proview is already in a protracted legal battle with Apple on the iPad trademark in China, and on Feb. 17 said the legal battle could spill over to the U.S.

Proview owns the iPad trademark in China and has asked courts there to bar Apple from selling the iPad tablet in the country. A Proview request for a legal injunction that would have forced Apple to halt iPad sales in its Shanghai stores was rejected earlier this week, while Proview won a battle in December in which a court in Shenzhen rejected Apple's claims to the iPad trademark. That decision is being appealed by Apple in the Guangdong provincial high court, with a hearing scheduled for next week.

Apple did not respond to requests for comment. According to the documents, the defendants listed include IP Application Development, a U.K. company that Proview alleged was established by Apple with the sole purpose of acquiring the trademark to use for the iPad tablet. The company name was "deliberately chosen" because its abbreviation is iPad, according to the court filing.

Apple acted with oppression, fraud and malice, Proview said in the court filing. Proview is also seeking to cancel an agreement that transferred the iPad trademark to IP Application Development in 2009.

Proview offered an Internet appliance called iPad after acquiring the trademark in several countries between 2000 and 2003. However, the company fell on rough financial times due to the global economic crisis and after two top customers, Polaroid and Circuit City, filed for bankruptcy in the second half of 2008, according to the court filing.

In 2009, Apple registered IP Application Development, which acquired the iPad trademark in December of that year for APS35,000 (US$41,335) with the promise not to use it to compete against Proview's products. IP Application Development ultimately transferred the trademark to Apple, which launched the iPad to much fanfare in 2010.

Proview is accusing Apple of fraud and intentional misrepresentation of facts to acquire the trademark, according to the court filing.

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Microsoft extends operator billing platform for Windows Phone apps

Microsoft has struck a deal which will make it easier for more Windows Phone users to pay for Marketplace apps via their phone bill. Payments on Microsoft Marketplace are handled by Microsoft's new Commerce Platform, which it has now integrated with the Direct Billing Gateway (DBG) developed by Mach.

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The integration makes it easier for mobile carriers to add operator billing, according to Mach. Among the first to profit from the new arrangement will be customers of Canadian operator Telus Communications.

For users, operator billing makes the payment process easier, according to Charles Damen, vice president Mobile Billing and Payments at Mach. They can just click to buy, without having to enter credit card details or store them on the app store servers, Damen said.

Microsoft made its first connection to Mach's gateway in January last year, but, so far, take-up has been slow. Mach says 50 operators use DBG to bill for content downloads and applications, but only two are using it to offer direct billing for Windows Phone users: Telus and Australia's Telstra.

The growing variety of Windows Phones has increased the interest for Microsoft's operating system, according to Damen, who expects more carriers will join Telus and Telstra this year, but isn't willing to announce any details. Mobile carriers have also been upgrading their own systems to be able to handle the billing method, he said.

Operator billing options on Android and Windows Phone allow carriers to be part of app stores, in contrast to Apple's App Store, which completely excludes operators from the application billing process.

Today, operators such as Vodafone, Telenor, Sprint and AT&T offer users the option to pay for apps on their monthly bill. Orange and T-Mobile have also added operator billing for Windows Phone apps using other payment platforms.

Microsoft slams Google over iPhone, Mac privacy boner

Microsoft today used the latest privacy flap involving Google to again blast its rival's behavior.

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal accused Google and several other online advertising companies of circumventing the privacy protections built into Apple's Safari browser, and enabled by default on iPhones, iPads and Macs.

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In a response to a request for comment from the IDG News Service, Rachel Whetstone, Google's senior vice president for communications and public policy, called the newspaper's charges a mischaracterization, denied the code embedded in websites tracked users, but admitted that the code installed other advertising tracking "cookies" on users' iOS and OS X devices.

"We didn't anticipate that this would happen," Whetstone said, "and we have now started removing these advertising cookies from Safari browsers."

Microsoft used the brouhaha -- not Google's first over privacy -- to again ding its rival.

"This type of tracking by Google is not new," said Ryan Gavin, Microsoft's head of marketing for its Internet Explorer (IE) browser, in a Friday blog. "The novelty here is that Google apparently circumvented the privacy protections built into Apple's Safari browser in a deliberate, and ultimately, successful fashion."

Gavin also took the time to pitch IE9 as an alternative, arguing that Microsoft's browser "respects your privacy."

Microsoft and Google have different ideas on Do Not Track, the label for ways browser users can set their applications to block advertisers' efforts to track their movements and record their behavior on the Web.

IE, along with Mozilla's Firefox and Apple's Safari, supports the Do Not Track HTTP Header, an initiative promoted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and several privacy advocacy groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). That effort relies on websites and advertisers to modify code on their end to respond to the Do Not Track request.

IE9 also includes a different feature, dubbed "Tracking Protection," that uses third-party-published lists to selectively block sites and content embedded in Web sites.

Google's Chrome does not support the Do Not Track header. Instead, the browser leans on a plug-in called "Keep My Opt-Outs" that blocks targeted ads produced by several dozen companies and ad networks that hew to self-regulation guidelines set by the online advertising industry.

Microsoft and Google have regularly butted heads over privacy.

Two weeks ago, Microsoft ran a three-day campaign in several major newspaper with advertisements claiming IE9 was superior in protecting users' privacy. At the time, Google countered with a blog post that characterized Microsoft's claims as "myths."

Today, the EFF and other privacy groups called on Google to straighten up.

"You need to make a pro-privacy offering to restore your users' trust," wrote Peter Eckersley and Rainey Reitman, the EFF's technology projects director and activism director, in an open letter to Google. "It's time to commit to giving users a voice about tracking and then respecting those wishes."

The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) was harsher, calling Google's actions "unacceptable."

"We are severely disappointed that Google and others choose to place tracking cookies on Safari browsers using invisible form submission," said Justin Brookman, director of consumer privacy, in an email. "We are perplexed how this decision evaded Google's internal design and review process. After several recent missteps -- and two new reboots on privacy-by-design -- this should never have happened."

The Safari bungle was only the most recent in a series from Google.

Last month, the company demoted the search ranking of Chrome's download page after bloggers revealed a pay-for-links scheme that Google attributed to a rogue operation run by a marketing firm it had hired.

Google promised to keep the search penalty in place for at least 60 days, a move that one metrics vendor used to explain the January downturn in Chrome's usage share.

Microsoft's Windows Azure Active Directory plans takes shape

This year should be a big one for Microsoft’s Windows Azure Active Directory cloud service, yet another piece of its hybrid public/private cloud puzzle.

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In the coming months, Windows users and partners are going to be hearing a lot more about Windows Azure Active Directory, the “conceptual equivalent” of Microsoft’s Active Directory directory service in Windows Server.

I only recently learned about the Windows Azure Active Directory — or WAAD (ugh!) — name via a December post I found on Dominik’s Cloud Security Blog). But the Softies have been dropping hints about plans to step up rights and management policies using Active Directory on the cloud side of the house, too, since last November.

Sessions about WAAD are on the docket for Microsoft’s upcoming TechEd conferences in June. Before that, Microsoft is planning to make some WAAD-related capabilities available to its Windows Azure cloud customers, according to a Microsoft cloud roadmap I saw earlier this year.

Microsoft is expected to tout the synergies of on-premises Active Directory and WAAD across several fronts, according to that roadmap document. Users will be able to maintain secure access to their apps in the cloud using their existing Active Directory set-ups. They’ll be able to migrate apps that depend on Active Directory to the Azure cloud “without making any changes.”

Office 365 enterprise users already can use their on-premises Active Directory to implement single sign-on. As it currently stands, “the administrator, and your users will need to maintain separate user names and passwords for your online and on-premises accounts,” and requires both Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) 2.0 and the Active Directory sync service. Based on the aforementioned cloud roadmap, it sounds like Microsoft may be adding more Active Directory single sign-on capabilities and features to Office 365 some time this spring.

A Microsoft Web page on WAAD calls WAAD a multi-tenant cloud service. From that page:

“Windows Azure Active Directory is a cloud service that provides identity and access capabilities for applications on Windows Azure and Microsoft Office 365. Windows Azure Active Directory is the multi-tenant cloud service on which Microsoft Office 365 relies on for its identity infrastructure.

“Windows Azure Active Directory utilizes the enterprise-grade quality and proven capabilities of Active Directory, so you can bring your applications to the cloud easily. You can enable single sign-on, security enhanced applications, and simple interoperability with existing Active Directory deployments using Access Control Service (ACS), a feature of Windows Azure Active Directory.”

Microsoft announced last year the availability of ACS 2.0, which added new federation capabilities for Web sites and services. The latest update to the Azure Service Bus includes built-in support for ACS 2.0.

Update: I’m not entirely sure if WAAD is just a new name/new positioning for ACS or if it actually is something more. I’ll try asking Microsoft to see if I can get clarity. If so, I’ll update this post.

In other Microsoft cloud news, Microsoft announced plans to drop SQL Azure pricing (again) this week, effective immediately. The reduced pricing is aimed at customers with databases bigger than 1 GB in size who need to scale. Microsoft also added a new 100 MB database plan to its SQL Azure line-up this week.

Mozilla commits to Metro version of Firefox on Windows 8

Mozilla said yesterday that it will build a "proof-of-concept" version of Firefox for Windows 8's Metro touch-first interface next quarter, then follow that with more functional editions later in the year.

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The company is the first of Microsoft's browser rivals to publicly commit to a Metro edition. Microsoft has said it will ship both Metro and traditional desktop versions of Internet Explorer 10 (IE10) with Windows 8 and Windows on ARM (WOA), the new OS targeting tablets and other low-powered devices.

Metro is Microsoft's label for the touch-enabled interface at the center of both Windows 8 and WOA. Windows 8 will run Metro and traditional 32- and 64-bit Windows applications, but WOA will run only those third-party apps designed for Metro.

In an update to its 2012 roadmap published Sunday, Mozilla said that it would craft a "technology proof of concept" of Firefox on Metro as a first step. "This is not [an] alpha or a beta, but should demonstrate the feasibility of Firefox in Windows 8 Metro," Asa Dotzler, the product director of Firefox, wrote in a roadmap overview.

The proof of concept is currently slated to roll out in the second quarter of 2012. Alpha and beta versions of the browser will follow in July through December.

"The Alpha will prove the installation path and basic browsing features, [and] the beta will be feature complete for a 1.0-capability product," Dotzler added.

In a more detailed planning document, Mozilla spelled out some specific goals of Firefox on Metro, saying that it will rely on existing Gecko libraries in 32-bit Windows to avoid having to port the bulk of the browser's code to the WinRT API (application programming interface).

Gecko is the Firefox browser engine, while WinRT refers to "Windows Runtime," the new programming model Microsoft is promoting for developing Metro apps in Windows 8.

"Firefox on Metro [will be] a full-screen App with an Appbar that contains common navigation controls (back, reload, etc.,) the Awesomebar, and some form of tabs," the document stated.

If Mozilla's assumptions are correct -- that it will power Firefox Metro on Windows 8 via current Gecko libraries -- its new browser would run only on Windows 8, not on WOA.

Mozilla has already put considerable resources into Firefox for Android, and has talked about creating a Web-based operating system of its own, dubbed "Boot to Gecko," for tablets and smartphones.

Mozilla said it will have a better idea of the work necessary to create a Metro Firefox on Windows 8 after Microsoft ships the Consumer Preview of the new operating system on Feb. 29.

Metro apps will be distributed only through the Windows Store, Microsoft has said.

New Microsoft Office University product comes with tougher verification rules

Microsoft is replacing its Office Academic SKU with a new Office University one that it hopes will help curtail fraudulent use.

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Whenever folks complain about how expensive Microsoft’s Office suite is, someone inevitably points out that the academic version is only about under $100 (usually around $80). And if you’re not a student… no worries. You can use someone else’s ID to buy it.

Microsoft officials know this, too. To help thwart non-students from getting an undeserved deal on the Academic SKU — which includes Word 2010, Excel 2010, PowerPoint 2010, OneNote 2010, Outlook 2010, Publisher 2010, Access 2010, and Office Web Apps (the free, consumer-focused version of Microsoft’s Webified version of four of its Office apps) — Microsoft is tightening the verification requirements.

On February 1, Microsoft quietly replaced the Office Professional Academic 2010 SKU with a new one called “Microsoft Office University 2010.” The new SKU is for “higher-education” students and faculty only. “Microsoft Office Home and Student 2010 is the recommended product for parents and families with K-12 students,” according to a Microsoft frequently asked questions (FAQ) document. (There’s a new comparable Office for Mac 2011 University SKU, too.)

C-FAX 1070 radio “Tech Talk” host Alan Perry is the one who alerted me to the new SKU, which Microsoft confirmed.

Office University 2010 includes the same point products as the former Academic Professional SKU. It costs $99 and can be installed on two PCs. But it has a new verification process, which works as follows, according to the FAQ:

Office University 2010 does not come with a product key. Your eligibility will be verified online before completing purchase. This product will not work without successful verification as you will not have a product key.

You will be required to verify your eligibility online to use this software.
1.Go to www.office.com/verify.
2.Sign in with your Windows Live ID or create one using any email address.
3.Provide your school email address, sign-in ID, or international student identity card (ISIC).

Once you pass verification, the online site displays the product key.

“The big change is the validation process, as you’ll see on the big warning stickers on the packaging,” said Perry. “Up to now, if you could persuade someone to sell you a copy, (even if you weren’t a student or faculty) it was yours to use. The change appears to be an effort to curtail the large number of ineligible people buying the Academic versions.”

Microsoft plans to offer a similar Office University SKU as part of its next versions of Office for Windows and Mac, Perry said the Softies told him.

Google's Android+Chrome likely a winning combo

The marriage of Android and Chrome — just as the union of Android code for smartphones and Android code for tablets were merged — will give Google stronger ammunition as it battles Apple’s iPhone and iPad in the market, but time is of the essence. It is not clear when the Chrome for Android will be ready to ship and only a handful of Android 4.0 smartphones have shipped to date.

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The forthcoming Chrome browser for Android is a good move for Google as it attempts to shakes off extreme competition from Apple’s iPhone/iPad, disappointing sales of Android tablets and worries about fragmentation of its two most popular open source projects.

On Tuesday, Google showed off a preview of the new Chrome browser for its latest mobile phone operating system, Android 4.0, which debuted last quarter. Google will not say when the browser update for Android 4.0 will appear.

What does it have? Much of what the desktop version has, notably an Omnibox for searching, seamless sign-in and sync of bookmarks and data, a toolbar with direct access to search, navigation and tabs, unimited tabs, support for many HTML5 features for enhanced web experience and remote debugging of web sites.

The developer opined in an online company video, the enhanced Chrome browser for Android on smartphones and tablets is designed from the ground up as a multiprocessor browser and is no “Chrome Lite.

The multiprocessor architecture of the browser allows for significant performance, navigation and simplicity of web computing. It has, for example, support for unlimited tabs and a web pages stack for organization on a small screen.It also has excellent syncing capabilities with the desktop edition.

“You can flip or swipe between an unlimited number of tabs using intuitive gestures, as if you’re holding a deck of cards in the palm of your hands, each one a new window to the web,” said one Google blog about the preview Chrome browser for Android on Feb 7. “Seamless sign-in and sync so you can take your personalized web browsing experience with you wherever you go, across devices.”

Key new mobile oriented features include font boosting for better viewing of text on small devices and Link Preview, which zooms in on keyword links, especially if they are tightly snug on a page, and displays them in a translucent sidebar.

The Chrome browser also offers “incognito mode for private browsing and fine-grained privacy options (tap menu icon, ‘Settings,’ and then ‘Privacy’) and:

View open tabs: Access the tabs you left open on your computer (also signed into Chrome)—picking up exactly where you left off.

Get smarter suggestions: If you visit a site often on your computer, you’ll also get an autocomplete suggestion for it on your mobile device, so you can spend less time typing.

Marrying the two projects is a no-brainer from a marketing point of view. Chrome is among the top web browsers and Google’s other top open source project — Android — has been a big hit on the smartphone.

The move unifies the code base and rationalizes two of the company’s open source projects that competed directly in some instances. ChromeOS (with Chrome browser) and Android with its own nondescript web browser were both designed for tablets.

Has this hurt Google’s tablet aspirations? I don’t know, but I’d much rather have one horse to bet on to compete against Apple’s astronomically successful iPad.

Product consolidation is good for Google. The debut of Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, for both the tablet and smartphone last quarter, was another good move to stop fears about fragmentation. Previously, Google had two different Android code bases for its smartphone and laptop.The emergence of a clear winner will send a strong signal to OEMs which Google tablet OS to back and to consumers which tablets to buy.

The only big problem is product delivery, it seems. To date, one a handful of OEMs have delivered Android 4.0 smartphones — including the Nexus Galaxy — and Motorola’s next-generation of ICS-based Droids is only promised for sometime in the first half of 2012.

Are Google and Motorola awaiting word from the government on their proposed merger before launching ICS devices?

“Ice Cream Sandwich brings an entirely new look and feel to Android. It has a redesigned user interface with improved multi-tasking, notifications, Wi-Fi hotspot, NFC support and a full web browsing experience. With Ice Cream Sandwich, Android has been rethought and redesigned to be simple, beautiful and useful,” one Motorola exec said in a blog. “Ice Cream Sandwich introduces innovations such as Face Unlock to unlock your phone, a Data Manager to control your network data usage, and advanced multimedia and imaging features. Ice Cream Sandwich also provides developers with new APIs, unified U.I for phones and Tablets, and improved performance by enabling developers to leverage hardware graphic acceleration.”
One Verizon spokesman could not say when the update will be available for a handful of existing smartphones.

“We don’t have an timeframe at this moment for Ice Cream Sandwich but so far to my knowledge the following devices will get the Ice Cream Sandwich update: Droid Bionic, Droid Razr, HTC Rezound, Spectrum by LG, Droid Xyboard, Motorola Xoom and Droid 4,” said Motorola Mobility spokesman Albert Aydin.

All eyes on Target.com's uptime with next designer launch Sunday

The last time Target launched a discount brand from a designer label, both the site and customer service overall crashed. Can Target endure another episode like that?

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Target is gearing up to launch yet another discounted line of clothing from a high-end fashion designer, but analysts, investors, and customers are all waiting to see whether or not the retail giant will be able to handle the e-commerce load better than it did in September.

To recall, there was a frenzy both in stores and online for Target when it launched a line from Missoni in September. (In case you’re interested, this Sunday’s launch is from Jason Wu, a favorite of First Lady Michelle Obama.)

I pinged Target reps this week to see if Target.com has taken any precautions to try to prevent similar site crashes this weekend, and I received the following response:

We have been working to improve Target.com and continue to make updates daily to provide a positive shopping experience for our guests. Many factors are taken into consideration when planning the inventory levels of our limited-time only collections. It is not uncommon for these collections to sell out quickly and we encourage our guests to shop the collection early.

Often times with sales such as these, inventory definitely can run out quickly. Yet Target all but imploded, especially on its website. Many consumers are fans of online shopping for the convenience of it as well as the opportunity to avoid the masses in stores.

But the masses came to Target.com too, bringing down the site several times for almost a day. To make things even worse, the site would come back at times and let customers order — even if it turned out there wasn’t any inventory left to buy.

Thus, many customers were left fuming when they received emails that orders could not be completed. The lucky ones got emails saying that their purchases would ship within a month. (Most in-stock items at Target.com are supposed to ship within one to two days.)

Personally (and fortunately), I fell into the latter category. However, my email read that the item I ordered (a Missoni bathmat) was out of stock — even though the product page clearly said it was “In Stock” when I put it in my shopping card and checked out.

Nevertheless, the bathmat showed up four weeks after I ordered it.

Jamus Driscoll, senior vice president of marketing at e-commerce solutions provider Demandware, warned that “any website downtime or slowdown can definitely frustrate consumers and leave a negative impression.”

“Today’s web-savvy consumers demand exceptional brand experiences, and those expectations include reliable and accessible access to a brand’s website at all times,” said Driscoll.

Nearly a month after this debacle, Target.com’s president, Steve Eastman, resigned suddenly. A very brief (one sentence) statement was released, opening the floodgates for rumors as to why he was leaving besides the typical “pursuing other opportunities” form letter — whether it had to do with this event or not.

In November, questions were raised as to whether or not Target would even be able to meet traffic demands on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, the two biggest online shopping days of the year.

However, it doesn’t appear that Target.com suffered from traffic slowdowns or worse more than any other giant online retailer.

Thus, perhaps either Target is now more prepared for such a downpour of online consumers — or it only buckled during a more high-profile, exclusive event. After all, people visit and shop from many different websites on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Target has had similar, very popular events with designers in the past, so you might be wondering why the Minneapolis-based enterprise had trouble all of a sudden and looked unprepared.

In fact, Target.com relaunched in August with a new platform after parting ways with Amazon.com to focus more on its own website sales. (Amazon.com powered Target.com, and Target products showed up in Amazon searches).

While the revamped Target.com was backed by some heavy partners (including IBM and AT&T), the Missoni launch proved to be the first major test for the new version of the online store. Although it looks like Target.com pretty much failed that test, Sunday will provide more conclusive evidence.

Target reps couldn’t provide an estimate for how many online visitors they are expecting this weekend, nor did they specify what precautions they were taking to meet new traffic surges.

Either way, there has been a significant amount of attention and buzz surrounding this launch for months now, so we can definitely expect long virtual queues on Sunday.

Driscoll advised that “brands must utilize a scalable commerce platform that enables their team to quickly prepare for and react to traffic spikes, and allocate capacity when needed.”

“This is a key benefit of a SaaS-based commerce platform,” Driscoll explained. “Retailers can respond to an uptick in traffic in a matter of minutes, whereas a retailer on a license-based platform might need weeks –- and costly hardware -– to manage this surge in traffic.”

Microsoft marketing layoffs said to begin February 1

Microsoft marketing layoffs are set to be announced internally on February 1, according to various sources.

A new round of layoffs at Microsoft begin today, February 1, according to several of my contacts (and one Microsoft official on Twitter).

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Reports that hundreds of layoffs could be coming to Microsoft’s marketing organization surfaced in mid-January. I’ve heard that the brunt of the cuts could hit the Central Marketing Group (CMG), headed by Corporate Vice President Chris Capossela, but that marketing departments in some product groups — including Server and Tools and Windows Phone — also could be affected.

Microsoft veteran Capossela was appointed as the new head of Microsoft’s centralized marketing, advertising and corporate communications unit in April 2011.

One of my contacts said that the cuts will affect most of the business groups, as well as the Central Marketing Group, commence on February 1.

One Marketing Manager at Microsoft tweeted on February 1 that the layoffs had begun. “Microsoft to announce major layoffs today as a result of marketing org restructuring,” tweeted Commercial and Communications Sector Lead Maher Al-Khaiyat.

Robert Wahbe, the most recent head of Server and Tools Marketing, announced he was leaving Microsoft earlier this year. And the Windows Phone marketing team has shed several employees over the past few months.

A Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment on anything to do with the layoffs when I asked on February 1.

I’ve heard from a couple of my contacts that the goal of the new round of layoffs is to reduce the duplication in marketing functions between CMG and the business groups.

“Field marketing for the US has been cut back so extensively, it has become ineffective in the enterprise space,” said one of my contacts, who requested anonymity. “Hopefully, resources will get shifted back to the field and closer to the customer” as a result of the marketing cuts.

Microsoft cut 5,000 jobs three years ago, with CEO Steve Ballmer saying at that time that he couldn’t guarantee there might not be further cuts at some time.

Update: Microsoft wouldn’t give me a quote confirming the layoffs, but it looks like they did give one to Todd Bishop at GeekWire. Bishop quotes a Microsoft spokesperson saying:

“Given the rapid changes in technology and the shifts in how our customers connect with Microsoft, great marketing is more important than ever to Microsoft’s future success. We’re taking steps to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our marketing, and to strengthen career paths for marketers at Microsoft. Some of these changes involved the reduction of a small percentage of marketing positions, to better align our resources with our business needs and clarify roles across the marketing function.”