Google’s Apps Marketplace opened the online doors for business on Tuesday with 50 companies joining in the offerings.    The most popular offerings were related to Google cloud apps that are Software-as-a-Service focused.   Lesser known companies joined in with CRM, fax and ERP apps, but there were well known companies such as Intuit with its payroll software and content management from Box.net.   Creative offerings from companies such as Manymoon, with its free "social productivity, project management, and task management" app, were part of the mix. Atlassian Software known for its hosted software development suit will bring its customer to Google Apps, but will benefit from the Google Apps that enable word processing, calendar, and chat within the Atlassian suite.

Avaya’s new offering for small business reduces the price point for unified communication by 40 percent, which features a new combination card that provides support for IP, digital and analog phones.  The collaborative tools include video, instant messaging and presence.   The lasted offering utilizes an SD card, which replaces the flash card and license that was required previously.   It is offered as part of the 6.0 version of IP office which is browser based.  The 6.0 version features improved instant messaging, more presence features and the ability to archive voice messaging.

According to Brendan Barnicle, senior research analyst with Pacific Crest Securities, Microsoft has plans to spend $1 billion on its Windows Phone business during this coming year.   Bill Koefoed, general manager of Microsoft’s investor relations, revealed the plans make the hefty investment in research and development in this year alone.   Even for Microsoft, this represents a significant commitment of approximately 10 percent of the company’s R&D budget.  "In our minds, [Koefoed] ruled out them buying somebody like Palm or RIM. He didn't say it directly ... it's our conclusion.”  Barnicle stated to InternetNews.com.

Year over year numbers for January 2010 show that smartphone users are moving toward connecting to social networks via their smartphones in growing numbers.   Users are not just using their PC’s to connect with social networks as the number of smartphone users that are jump on social networks doubled from 5% to 10% when compared to January 2009.   The number of users accessing Facebook via a mobile browser grew by 112%, and Twitter grew by an amazing 347% from the previous year.  "Social networking remains one of the most popular and fastest-growing behaviors on both the PC-based Internet and the mobile Web," Mark Donovan, senior VP of mobile at ComScore, wrote in a statement. "Social media is a natural sweet spot for mobile since mobile devices are at the center of how people communicate with their circle of friends, whether by phone, text, email, or, increasingly, accessing social networking sites via a mobile browser."

HP and the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) have identified the top cloud computing security threats in a new document which features research on the subject.   The CSA has provided a warning to organizations to be aware of technology that accumulates sensitive personal information such as credit card numbers, social security numbers and employee information.     Prevention is less expensive that cleaning up after a data loss or regulatory compliance violation, which require notification and system modification.   Chris Whitener, HP's chief security strategist, noted that although cloud computing can reduce capital expenditures, managing risks is often overlooked.  "The No. 1 thing you shouldn't do is approach this with complete ignorance," Whitener stated. "And unfortunately, this is something that a lot of people do. Understand and limit your risk profile. If you approach this with complete abandon, you're asking for it."